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BACH'S HALF-TERM REPORT
Summer Edition 2019
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Contents
Published: July 2019 by Dunsar Media Company Limited Editor: Duncan Mackay 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 Office Number 5 @ 8/9 Stratford Arcade, 75 High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AY. Great Britain + 44 1908 563300 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. 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.
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Introduction
Duncan Mackay
Could do better
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David Owen
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The Times They Are a-Changin' Duncan Mackay
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A turning point for sport? Michael Pavitt
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All eyes on Minsk Mike Rowbottom
Peru on track to deliver outstanding Pan Am Games
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Nancy Gillen
The new kid on the block Michael Pavitt
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Judo’s coming home Mike Rowbottom
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A year of two Games Michael Pavitt
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Let’s stick together Mike Rowbottom
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his year’s International Olympic Committee Session in Lausanne marks a significant milestone: the halfway point of Thomas Bach’s period as President. Since being elected to succeed Jacques Rogge at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013, no-one could argue that the German has made his mark on the organisation – whether that is all good or bad, is a matter of debate. In a half-term report, our chief writer David Owen scores Bach high on financial acumen and securing the long-term future of the organisation but low on his approach to doping and his inter-personal communication skills. David also marvels at the collection of selfies Bach must have with many of the world’s leaders. One of the main areas in which Bach has made a big impression is in the area of bidding, where a more “flexible” approach has been adopted, leading to two candidates for the
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2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games more resembling nationwide campaigns than the one-city bids to which we are accustomed. Stockholm and Åre in Sweden and Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy both utilise facilities several hundreds of miles apart seriously threatening, in the long-term, the unique atmosphere of the Olympic Games. I have visited both candidates and sometimes I felt like Steve Martin as I spent so much time in Planes, Trains and Automobiles! You can read my report starting on page 12. Another hot topic in the Olympic Movement now is the ongoing challenge governing bodies are facing from outside interests. Bach has been among those to warn about the supposed threat to the “European Sports Model” from commercial enterprises. Swimming, basketball and skating are among the sports locked in disputes with companies hoping to hold their own events and competitions. Senior reporter Michael Pavitt has explored the issue and asks if we are approaching a turning point for sport. Michael also looks at the latest addition to the burgeoning multi-sport games calendar – the Urban Games being organised by the Global Association of International Sports Federations in Budapest after being moved earlier this year
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from Los Angeles. Michael has been busy recently because another important event on the calendar will be the Summer Universiade, due to open on July 3 in Naples, and he has spoken to International University Sports Federation President Oleg Matytsin about these Games and the Winter edition which took place in Krasnoyarsk in Russia earlier this year. If you prefer your sport a bit more traditional, then this year’s International Judo Federation World Championships could be for you. A sport that demands both physical prowess and great mental discipline, it is entering an exciting period in its history in which it will reconnect with its roots with this year’s World Championships in Tokyo being a test event for next year’s big one – the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital. It is no wonder that insidethegames’ chief features writer Mike Rowbottom thinks “Judo’s coming home”. In fact, the international sports calendar is almost as packed as The insidethegames.biz Magazine! I am sure there is something for everyone in this latest issue.
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r e t t e b o Could d This summer, Thomas Bach reaches the halfway mark of his expected 12-year reign as President of the International Olympic Committee. David Owen assesses what he has achieved so far and marks him high on finances - but warns his poor response to doping and the crisis in Russia could ultimately define how he is remembered.
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n International Olympic Committee President may remain in post for up to 12 years - an initial eight-year term, renewable once for four years. With no realistic challenger even remotely on the horizon, in spite of the Olympic Movement’s current woes, we are in all probability approaching the mid-point of Thomas Bach’s reign - unless that is, he pushes for a rule-change that would permit him to stay longer. How has the 65-year-old German done so far?
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Let’s be charitable and start with the good news. Just as the first responsibility of any national Government is to ensure that nation’s security, so the IOC leadership’s most fundamental task could be viewed as securing the Movement’s financial future. Seen in this light, the Bach regime’s early sealing of a $7.65 billion, three-cycle broadcasting deal with NBCUniversal, locking the United States network into broadcasting the Games until 2032, is looking better and better with the passage of time.
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While I thought at first that he might have underplayed his hand, five years on, the traditional media rights model which has enriched sport has started to appear more and more precarious. The deal provides a solid financial base as the IOC, along with other sports bodies, attempt to navigate surprisingly turbulent times. Yes, the National Olympic Committees and International Federations that depend on the IOC for subsidies have had to make do with far slower growth in their payments than in the boom years. But, besides cash, the deal offered a very striking vote of confidence in the enduring appeal of the Olympic recipe in a fast-changing world. Without it, the trials and tribulations of the past four years would have been even more stressful for sports movement insiders. Securing the future was also very much the reflex behind an even bigger decision that to rip up the traditional bidding process and award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games simultaneously to the great cities of Paris and Los Angeles. Here I still think that the caution was overdone and that a satisfactory field for 2028 would have emerged had Bach and his colleagues held their nerve and adhered to tried and trusted procedures. But, be that as it may, the double award has ensured that the IOC’s flagship property will benefit from A-list hosts throughout the decade of the 2020s - and this at a time when the whole concept of the Olympics has been under fire from many quarters. The downside of killing off traditional Summer Games bidding in this way, at least for a period, is that it makes it much more difficult to keep Olympic affairs in the public eye in the long interludes between the actual sports events. Even when some of the bid-related stories were negative, the underlying dynamic of household-name cities - and instantly recognisable politicians and celebs - straining every sinew to win the honour of hosting your event worked well for the IOC. Another plus-point for Bach, the launch of the Olympic Channel, should have furnished the Movement with a vital tool for plugging this gap, especially with regard to the young. But while I am nearly half a century removed www.facebook.com/insidethegames
from the target demographic, I have yet to detect much by way of an indication that the new medium is getting the elusive formula right. Under the old way of doing things, attention - as IOC members descend on Lausanne to choose the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics between the two candidates who have stumbled their way, seemingly in spite of themselves, to the finish-line - would be starting to turn excitedly to prospective runners and riders for the 2028 race. Instead, we have a void, with occasional references to the 2032 field seeming so far away as to warrant little immediate attention. In summary, Bach has shown a good grasp of priorities, ensuring the basic buildingblocks are in place to enable the IOC to keep going about its business for the next decade or more, no matter how much the underlying media and entertainment sectors might change in the meantime. In turning to the less successful aspects of his record to date, it makes sense, I think, to remind ourselves of the state of play when he took over on September 10, 2013, towards the end of a bustling and eventful Session in Buenos Aires. Tokyo had just won the right to stage the
Thomas Bach’s close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has attracted criticism. Photo: Getty Images
2020 Olympics and Paralympics after an absorbing and fluctuating tussle with Madrid and Istanbul. Jacques Rogge, the outgoing IOC President, had presided with great integrity over a golden age for the Movement’s financial affairs, but seemed to be out of energy and ideas. Concerns were just starting to mount about Rio 2016, but, a year on from London, the mood at the gathering was still unmistakably buoyant. The time was right for a change, and while there was already scope for doubt about his human touch, Bach appeared supremely well-qualified to take over at the top. An IOC member since 1991, he was extremely familiar with the body’s sometimes idiosyncratic inner workings and had developed a raft of wide-ranging proposals over, one suspected, a lengthy period.
Thomas Bach has been a guest of North Korea leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. Photo: IOC
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Had the background environment remained as benign as it was throughout the Rogge era, many of the German’s subsequent difficulties would not have materialised. But, as we can now appreciate, the chickens from the 2007-2008 financial crisis were coming home to roost, with electorates in the wealthy western democracies becoming grumpy after years of stagnant growth. This meant that when indulgences such as the prospect of hosting multi-sports events were dangled before them, the question of “What’s in it for us?” would tend to crop up with increasing urgency. This has proved particularly problematic for the Winter Olympics. This change in atmosphere meant, in turn, that by the time the much-vaunted Agenda 2020 reform package was ready to go, it already looked hopelessly inadequate for a climate in which many of the fundamental principles underpinning the Olympic concept were coming under question more seriously than for a generation or more. I have still seen little indication that Bach acknowledges this. Indeed, faced with his stubborn adherence
Thomas Bach has pinned a lot of hope during his time as President on the Olympic Agenda 2020 he introduced. Photo: Getty Images
to the Agenda 2020 mantra, I have sometimes found myself wondering whether the very thoroughness of his thinking about what needed to be done post-Rogge might somehow have impaired his nimbleness in responding to the actual events fate has thrown at him. Doping still casts as big a shadow over
Jacques Rogge announced Thomas Bach as his successor at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013. Photo: Getty Images
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sport as at any time I can remember. The long-drawn-out Russian doping saga is partly responsible for this. Bach’s record in this extraordinary tale has been patchy to say the least. Too often he has appeared to me to be prioritising turf wars or the IOC’s interests as an event owner and leading funder of the anti-doping apparatus rather than how to counter this form of cheating most effectively. You might argue that, as IOC President, it is his job to do this. But unless sports leaders see the big picture and act accordingly on a consistent basis, it is hard to see how this scourge, which still poses an existential threat to some Olympic sports at a time when video games and other keyboardfocused delights are competing strongly for young people’s attention, is ever going to be defeated. Unlike most colleagues, I was with him in the run-up to the last Summer Games, believing that an athlete’s right to individual justice should trump calls for a blanket ban on the Russian team at Rio 2016. But I understood that others could quite legitimately reach a different conclusion, not least if they suspected that the IOC President’s stance might in part have been motivated by politics. The near civil war that erupted between the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency following the two bodies’ difference of opinion over Russian
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Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the world leaders that Thomas Bach has enjoyed being photographed with. Photo: Getty Images
participation at Rio 2016 depressed me. Where I parted company from him completely on this issue was in early 2018, just ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, when he reacted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s in my view justifiabledecision to overturn sanctions against 28 Russian athletes by describing it as “disappointing and surprising” and talking about an urgent need for reforms of CAS’s internal structure. Rightly or wrongly, the impression given was of a sore loser - a useful quality perhaps in the Olympic athlete Bach once was; less so, I would argue, in an IOC President. The IOC then compounded matters by lifting a suspension imposed on the Russian Olympic Committee, which had obliged Russian athletes to compete neutrally, albeit under the less-than-opaque Olympic Athletes from Russia team name, just three days after the Pyeongchang 2018 Closing Ceremony.
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Ultimately, I suppose, Bach will be judged on this issue according to whether sport appears closer to removing this spectre hovering menacingly over its affairs when he departs office than it was when he took over the IOC reins.
Just as WADA was the child of the Festina affair of the late-1990s, so the most obvious legacy of the Russian doping crisis so far has been the International Testing Agency, or Independent Testing Authority, as it was initially called.
Under Bach, the IOC Session has been stripped of much of its power. Photo: IOC
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Signing a multi-billion-dollar television deal with American broadcaster NBC has ensured the IOC’s future – something that Thomas Bach deserves credit for. Photo: IOC
If, come 2025, it can be shown convincingly that the ITA has been instrumental in a marked improvement in the anti-doping regime’s effectiveness, then Bach will be able to claim vindication for his efforts in the field. But since we still have only the haziest idea of the proportion of
Thomas Bach is at the halfway point of his term as IOC President. Photo: Getty Images
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elite athletes who use performanceenhancing substances and/or methods to cheat, this may prove a difficult case to make. As for his personal management style, the German has often appeared disappointingly - and I think needlessly - intolerant of criticism and sincerely-held differences of opinion. Most would have understood the ruthlessness with which he battled back against Marius Vizer after the then SportAccord President’s breathtaking coup de théâtre in Sochi in 2015. But, having emphatically underlined his authority in that episode, he could, and I think should, have adopted a more relaxed demeanour on other occasions. The most damaging consequences of this attitude have come in the context of the Russian doping saga, which, as touched on above, opened up gaping breaches between the IOC and other leading sports bodies WADA, the International Paralympic @insidethegames
Committee, the International Association of Athletics Federations, CAS – and weakened the Sports Movement further.
Thomas Bach has been an active President. Photo: Getty Images
The IOC’s treatment of individuals such as former IPC President Sir Philip Craven, WADA chief Sir Craig Reedie and the IOC
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IOC to inaugurate new
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T Thomas Bach out and about meeting supporters. Photo: Getty Images
doyen Richard Pound under Bach’s leadership, meanwhile, has sometimes appeared unappealingly petty. Another striking hallmark of the Bach era has been the way he has centralised power inside the IOC, relying heavily on a cadre of trusted executives and increasingly reducing the IOC itself to a glorified rubberstamping chamber. It could be argued that this is a form of much-needed modernisation. It may also have the welcome side-effect of limiting scope for corruption - a dragon that has yet to be slain, even if its impact on the IOC has been far less damaging in recent years than on certain other sports bodies. Personally, I preferred the days when the IOC acted more like a parliament than a business; and while its workings could at times be intractable and messy, its decisionmaking record was not at all bad. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Under the new way of working, the justification for a 100-plusmember IOC seems flimsy, since it is hard to imagine why you would need it, other than as part of the extensive Presidential patronage network. One other criticism: not unlike FIFA’s Gianni Infantino, Bach gives every indication of enjoying the access to world political leaders that his position allows him just a little bit too much. To sum up then, Bach has been unlucky in that his Presidency has coincided with markedly more difficult times than those his immediate predecessor was blessed with. I think this caught him rather by surprise. His slowness to adapt, in some ways, along with his failure at times to temper the combative side of his nature, have in my view prevented him from developing into as accomplished an IOC President at this halfway stage as one might have expected. @insidethegames
he International Olympic Committee will inaugurate their new headquarters in Lausanne on this year's Olympic Day. Known as Olympic House, the inauguration on June 23 will coincide with the 125th anniversary of the creation of the IOC. Located in the Vidy area of the Swiss city, close to the Lake Geneva shoreline, the new headquarters has cost CHF145 million – well under the original budget of CHF200 million but a figure still guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows when a campaign is underway for Olympic athletes to receive more financial recognition for their efforts. The IOC first decided to move ahead with the project in 2014. A total of 500 IOC staff who work for the organisation were spread across four locations in the Olympic capital, but the new building has bought them together under one roof. Designed by Danish architecture firm 3XN, the building features an all-glass façade with 80 per cent of the construction completed by local companies. It has been built with sustainability and environmentally friendly practices very much in mind, the architects claim. This includes the use of lake water, solar power and natural lighting. The new building incorporates the Château de Vidy, the IOC's main headquarters since 1968, and a listed building. "We have pushed the design very far," Jan Ammundsen, senior partner and head of design at 3XN, said. "It is not easy to work alongside a building like that but on the other hand, I think we came up with a solution that makes both of the buildings stand out." There is a hospitality floor on the lowest level alongside a welcome area, a restaurant, a sports cafe and five large meeting rooms. Three floors of offices lie above it. A winding staircase structure aims to "symbolically echo the unifying aspirations of the Olympic rings" as well as encourage movement and communication. Duncan Mackay
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The Times They Are a-Changin' The bid process is undergoing fundamental changes and, whether it is Stockholm Åre or Milan Cortina d'Ampezzo which wins the right to host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, things will probably never be the same again. Duncan Mackay has visited both candidates.
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ver since he became President of the International Olympic Committee six years ago, the suspicion has been that Thomas Bach has been trying to kill off the bid process, something which he seems to find personally distasteful, regularly talking about how campaigns produce “too many losers” which puts cities off. The decision two years ago to award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympic Games simultaneously to Paris and Los Angeles was hailed by the German a “win-win-win” scenario for the two cities, and for the IOC. Under Bach, the IOC has been systematically limiting the amount of resources a bid city can devote to a bid, both in terms of opportunities to promote it and how much money they can spend on it. In recent campaigns, the annual SportAccord Convention used to be a key moment for any bid city, offering an opportunity for them to present their plans and proposals to 1,500 key industry stakeholders. It was presentations at SportAccord that arguably marked the turning point in the races for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games for London, Rio de Janeiro and
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The IOC Evaluation Commission visit to Stockholm Åre was much more low-key than Gunilla Lindberg, second left, has been used to in the past.
Tokyo respectively as momentum swung behind them following their appearances there. Yet, at this year’s SportAccord Summit in the Gold Coast, presentations from the two bidders left in the race – Stockholm Åre and Milan Cortina d'Ampezzo – took place in secret to the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations General Assembly. Delegates attending SportAccord were not allowed to share in them and the media were banned. It was the nadir of a campaign that has been positively subterranean. When the IOC published its Evaluation Commission report on May 24 to coincide with exactly a month to go until the vote is due to take place at its Session in Lausanne, Milan Cortina did not even bother to respond by issuing a press release - a first in my nearly 30 years of covering Olympic bidding. Perhaps they just thought no-one cared. After all, for the IOC Evaluation Commission visit to
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Sweden in March the level of media interest was minimal. It used to be that for these trips, the international media needed at least two coaches to transport them. In Stockholm and Åre, a minivan was more enough to accommodate the three foreign reporters interested enough to travel there. There was a time not so long ago that a bid city preparing for the visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission would treat it like a military operation. Planning would start the moment they were officially informed of the date the Commission would be visiting. Space on billboards in prime locations would be bought to advertise the campaign. The city's finest restaurants would be booked. The country's head of state would be informed they needed to keep their calendar clear for at least a couple of days of the visit so they could meet and greet and, preferably, host a lavish banquet for the Commission's members.
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. Photo: IOC
When London were bidding for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2005, they held a dress rehearsal for the visit by putting together their own shadow version of the Commission. When the real thing, chaired by Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, turned up they were feted wherever they went, driven in a cavalcade through Britain's capital to meet the then Prime Minister Tony Blair at Number 10 Downing Street and walked through a guard of honour formed by hand-picked ball boys and girls when they visited Wimbledon. The highlight, though, was undoubtedly the dinner hosted at the Buckingham Palace by the Queen and Prince Phillip. It has even been claimed by some of the delegation that as they drove away the Queen appeared at the windows and waved them off. True? Probably not, but it does illustrate the pomp and pageantry that surrounded these visits and the lengths to which cities went to make an impression. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Every city used to do it, using their own form of royalty. When the IOC Evaluation Commission visited Rio de Janeiro's bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, they got a private audience with Pelé. During the same bid process, Chicago put on a star-studded dinner hosted by their own Queen - chatshow host Oprah Winfrey. It was not just the IOC Evaluation Commission who had the red carpet rolled out for them. The international media were often treated in a manner they could only dream of back home. Chicago 2016 held a drinks reception at the top of the John Hancock Centre and during their ill-fated bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Annecy put on a six-course media dinner cooked by a Michelin-starred chef and which ended with each member of the press being presented with a massive local cheese wheel that remains the stuff of legend among Olympic journalists. When Munich were bidding for the same 2018 Winter Olympics, they arranged for a bar serving Bavarian beer and bratwurst to operate in the press centre throughout the whole day. Perhaps it was this ostentatious display of public relations which finally convinced the Munich 2018 bid leader – one Herr Bach - that the whole bid process had got out of hand. In both Sweden and Italy, the group of inspectors travelled in a 52-seat coach rather than a cavalcade with a police escort. They never drove past giant posters advertising either country’s bid for the simple reason there were none. There was no dinner with the King of Sweden or any sign of Sweden's real royalty Zlatan Ibrahimović. Stockholm Åre 2026 officials made no attempts to reform ABBA for the occasion, claiming that it was a matter of great national importance.
Talking of ABBA, another moment when there was a sign that the whole bid process was out of control was eight years ago during the IOC Evaluation Commission visit to Pyeongchang 2018. When the group turned up to inspect the curling venue led by its chair Gunilla Lindberg, they were met by a choir of 2,018 residents who had been practicing for months and delivered a word-perfect version of the ABBA classic I Have a Dream. Lindberg is Swedish, you see, and the South Koreans really, really wanted the Olympic Games...Geddit? On the same trip, Lindberg turned up at one venue and was met by the sight of hundreds of local Korean schoolchildren lining the route wearing masks of her likeness. Even she must have thought that was seriously weird. So, it is fair to assume that this Olympic veteran has witnessed the most extreme side of bidding. As secretary general of the Swedish Olympic Committee and a prominent figure in Stockholm Åre 2026, Lindberg would have played a leading role in shaping the programme for this IOC Evaluation Commission visit led by Romania's Octavian Morariu. The group turned up at venues unannounced with not one Morariu mask spotted. There was certainly no 2,026-strong choir singing Take a Chance on Me. At one point during the visit, when we questioned the lack of local media interest, the Stockholm Åre 2026 press officer told me and a colleague they didn't really need any more publicity and were quite happy with so little coverage. It is a shame the Swedish media were so detached from the process because this was comfortably the most open and transparent IOC Evaluation Commission visit in Olympic history. Gone were the fierce IOC officials of old threatening to strip journalists of their accreditation if they tried to speak to anyone
The bid team from Milan Cortina d'Ampezzo have promised no “cathedrals in the desert” if they are awarded the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Photo: Getty Images
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Top Left: Åre, which will host Alpine skiing events if Sweden’s bid is successful, is located 600 kilometres from Stockholm. Photo: Getty Images Top Right: IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi wants locations to “create special atmosphere”. Photo: Getty Images Bottom Right: Sessions of the IOC Evaluation Commission were open to the media for the first time. Photo: Getty Images
about anything. They were replaced by a friendly smiling staffer bringing over Morariu or Christophe Dubi, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, at each venue to talk to us and answer any questions we had. In an Olympic first, the media were even allowed into the sessions where Stockholm Åre and Milan Cortina presented many of their concepts to the IOC Evaluation Commission.
The Swedes "passion for winter sport" was a much-trumpeted slogan during my trip to Stockholm Åre. And it is true - they are mad about anything that takes place on snow or ice. Whether they are mad about the Olympic Games is another thing altogether. My sense of things after nearly a week there is that the Swedish are not opposed to the idea of Stockholm Åre 2026. Most of them just don't care about it. There was certainly more awareness of the bid from Milan and Cortina in Italy, a bid which www.facebook.com/insidethegames
seems to embrace large swathes of the country. For this may have been branded a Milan Cortina 2026 bid, but it is really a nationwide one embracing large areas of Italy. Cortina is 411 kilometres from Milan and is one of four clusters that will host events. We spent nearly 20 hours over two days in a minibus touring some of the venues. Stockholm Åre 2026 have a similar concept with the Alpine skiing 600 kilometres away, the sliding sports in a different country in Latvia and the ski jumping and Nordic combined a three-hour drive from the Swedish capital. Whoever wins, it will open the door in the future to similar bids embracing the whole country and even multi-nation bids with countries coming together to pool their resources. So, for example, why could you not have a bid where Austria hosts Alpine skiing and sliding sports, Hungary the speed skating and Slovakia the ice hockey? Then the argument will be, that if you can do it for the Winter Olympics, why not the Summer Games, too? It is certainly more sustainable in the long term and will avoid building expensive venues, like for bobsleigh, which have a limited legacy. We call them white elephants; the Italians refer to them as “cathedrals in the desert”. It will, however, change the unique nature of the Olympic Games. Gone will be everyone @insidethegames
gathering together in one place for two-and-ahalf weeks to celebrate sport to be replaced by a series of effectively World Championships spread around one or more country at the same time. In fact, it is the model that Marius Vizer proposed introducing when he became President of SportAccord and which the IOC so fiercely opposed. It was clear, however, that unless change was undertaken, the Winter Olympic Games was living on borrowed time. Sochi spent $51 billion building a new winter wonderland from scratch to host the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games but there are not many benefactors like the Russian Government for the IOC to call upon. So, under Agenda 2020, there is a drive to use existing facilities and cut spending to a minimum. Adapt or die appears to be the message and it is one which Milan Cortina 2026 and Stockholm Åre 2026 have embraced wholeheartedly.
“What is really important is that all the locations create special atmosphere,” Dubi told insidethegames. “What is important is that everyone feels they are part of the Games, that they hear the music of the Games. “We are not diluting the experience; we are reinforcing the Olympic brand by hosting events in the best way that winter sport can offer.”
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sport?
Aforturning point Sport’s status quo is under threat from a host of new entities. Michael Pavitt looks at the challenge governing bodies face from emerging rivals
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nternational Federations have endured relatively choppy waters in recent years. They face increasing uncertainty, with their leadership and organisation of sport coming under what has been perceived as a growing threat. The threat is perhaps not seen to be an immediate one, but is highlighted by an
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Association of Summer Olympic International Federations “Future of Global Sport” report which concluded by attempting to gaze into the sporting landscape 20 years on. The report was seen by some as ASOIF attempting to read the riot act to International Federations, pushing them towards acting on key issues which will impact their sport in the coming years. “Governing bodies have not always fulfilled their roles of effectively governing and administrating their sports,” a particularly punchy line of the report read. “For example, some IFs have struggled to drive an appropriate share of revenue and profile to their top athletes, while certain National Federations have had difficulties growing grassroots preparation.
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“Where IFs do not assert themselves, businesses may swoop in and capitalise on missed opportunities or the public sector may feel the need to make up for ineffective governance. A protectionist approach is not going to cut it and IFs can ill-afford to rest on their laurels while claiming a historical right to govern a sport.” The first line of the quote can be classified as an understatement. It is harder to name International Federations which have not had a governance crisis over the past decade than it is to name those whose name has not been sullied by suggestions of wrongdoing. There remains the obvious elephant in the room that no-one has yet found a silver bullet as to how to prevent these various infractions, let alone impose significant sanctions when they do occur.
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IOC President Thomas Bach has warned against the threat to the existing sports model. Photo: Getty Images
A case in point would be the ongoing situation with AIBA, a situation so shambolic I feel confident enough using it as an example given the unlikelihood it will be resolved between the writing and printing of this piece - or any time soon. While governance failing appears to be entrenched in the sporting landscape, the latter part of ASOIF’s statement dealt with the emerging challenges posed by commercial organisations to their stranglehold on sport. The International Skating Union were arguably the first to encounter a challenge to its authority when the European Commission ruled against them at the end of 2017. The Commission ruled in favour of Dutch speed skaters Mark Tuitert, who won the 1,500 metres at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and Nels Kersholt. Tuitert and Kersholt had challenged the ISU’s right to sanction competitors for taking part in unauthorised commercial events, with the European Commission siding with the duo by asserting the rule to be a breach of European Union anti-trust laws and must be changed. The ruling was considered the most significant legal case in European sport since the 1995 decision in favour of Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman which secured free movement of players within the EU. What followed was a rewriting of ISU rules on the conditions in which third party events could be organised, following discussions between the governing body and the EU Commission. These were ultimately signed off by the ISU President Jan Dijkema and director general Fredi Schmid last year. A key section of the rules sees third parties required to pay "up to 10 per cent of its net profit of the approved open international competition to the ISU in favour of the development of the ISU sports.” Given that prominent sporting officials, namely IOC President Thomas Bach, have expressed grave concern over the impact www.facebook.com/insidethegames
commercial bodies and their events could have on the existing solidarity model, the ISU approach does seem to have found a potential middle ground. “I support the finding that IFs will need to develop a more proactive, creative, marketing driven and collaborative mindset and to re-evaluate their role and strategies in order to capture current and new generations with sports,” Dijkema reflected on the ASOIF report. "It is difficult to predict the future. Nevertheless, I also foresee a further professionalisation in the organisation of events
almost impossible to organise national team events". The crux of the dispute centres around EuroLeague’s refusal to release players during the FIBA windows, which were introduced in 2017 as the governing body sought to implement a new competition calendar. It would follow the tried and tested format of other team sports like football in which regular national team matches would take place throughout the year, rather than being concentrated in tournaments at the end of the club season.
There has been tension between the International Basketball Federation and EuroLeague. Photo: Getty Images
with an increasing collaboration with specialised marketing and media companies in order to adapt to the rapidly changing world. It is a race without a finish." The ISU were seen by many as the test case, so it is not a surprise to see the governing body’s situation listed as a case study at LawAccord in Gold Coast as part of SportAccord Summit in the Gold Coast last month. Their handling of the dispute looks set to be examined at a session billed to assess how International Federations manage the emergence of rival leagues and cooperate and secure solidarity payments. The International Basketball Federation will also be represented amid their calendar conflict with EuroLeague Basketball, which remains a very active dispute with both sides receiving criticism from fans and players. International Olympic Committee President Bach referred to the conflict last November when calling for the “European Sport Model” to be defended, with the German understandably coming in on the side of the governing body FIBA. He claimed the EuroLeague "intrudes into the work of European basketball and makes it @insidethegames
NBA teams were exempt from having to release their players to represent their nations in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, which led to EuroLeague, the top-tier club competition in Europe, following suit. The league rebelled against the perceived double standard, while FIBA criticised the EuroLeague’s decision to refuse to include a break for the international windows when announcing their calendar back in 2017. Both FIBA and the EuroLeague filed complaints to the European Commission against each other, which were later dropped. A solution to the calendar dispute has yet to be found. The impact has been felt on both competitions, with World Cup qualification and EuroLeague matches taking place on the same day in November. Players and fans believe they are the most impacted by the current clash, with the calendar change and dispute leaving stars watching their national teams attempt to qualify from afar rather than taking to the court. The situation was viewed as a key reason for European champions Slovenia failing to reach this summer’s World Cup in China.
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Recently appointed FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis gave a more conciliatory tone recently. "At some time, we will sit on a table and must find solutions in a couple of things,” he was quoted as saying. "The balance between the clubs and the competitions they participate and national teams’ tournaments. This is the only way and that’s how the ‘pie’ will be larger and become enough for everyone." Perhaps of all the federations listening to the LawAccord segment, the International Swimming Federation will be the one listening most carefully as the latest to have found themselves faced with what ASOIF described as a "beat them or join them" dilemma. Similar to the situation that faced the ISU a couple of years ago, FINA is subject to an anti-trust lawsuit at the hands of three leading swimmers, as well as a rival International Swimming League. The lawsuits stemmed from FINA’s alleged efforts to block the ISL, leading to an event being cancelled last year. Allegations were made that swimming’s governing body had threatened to ban swimmers who took part in
Adam Peaty is among star athletes to have backed the International Swimming League. Photo: Getty Images
the unsanctioned competitions. FINA denied these claims and promised that athletes would not be sanctioned for competing at events, including those run by the ISL. The ISL, financed to the tune of $20 million for its first year, has now pressed ahead towards its launch with a series of swimmers signed up to teams and acting as ambassadors. By contrast FINA
The International Boxing Association is in a period of turmoil. Photo: Getty Images
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unveiled its own Champions Swim Series, which was accused of having similarities to the ISL concept. The duel for the pool appears to have simmered down after an incendiary couple of months, but it remains to be seen whether an agreement can be reached to see FINA and the ISL work as friends rather than foes. Can schedules marry up in a crowded calendar and can FINA win back some goodwill from top swimmers, which appears to be in short supply at this time? ISL financer Konstantin Grigorishin rather stoked the flames in December when he claimed that the "day of the sports governing body is coming to an end". He suggested professional sport should be split from International Federations, who he deemed to be ill equipped to handle this aspect of the modern sports landscape. He instead suggested governing bodies should work as regulators and lead development of the sport. While the assertion might be slightly overblown, there is a thought that the role of governing
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bodies is slowly being reshaped by a changing landscape. The ASOIF report earlier this year did not merely examine the clashes between governing bodies and commercial rivals, which are currently infrequent but appear to be a growing trend. Their report also noted the changing behaviours of sponsors as they seek to target specific markets, with demonstratable return of investment becoming increasingly necessary. The balance between understanding and satisfying the consumption habits of younger people while ensuring traditional customers are not neglected was also highlighted as a potential issue. The appeal and opportunities offered by esports to enticing younger fans to follow a sport have been noted, yet there is caution over the negative impacts this could have. Only time will tell International Federations need to reassess their relationship with rivals and the private sector. Perhaps they need to embrace digital innovation and rethink their business models.
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All eyes on Minsk is poised to host the second edition of the European Games with the continent watching on. With pressure from the rival European Championships, Mike Rowbottom assesses preparations in Belarus. 22
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efore it hosted the first European Games four years ago, the largest event Baku had staged was the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The learning curve was particularly steep, given that there had been only two-and-a-half years to prepare for a competition that is now set as quadrennial. For Minsk, which will this month host the second European Games, the biggest previous event it has staged is the 2014 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championships. They too have had less than a standard gap in which to prepare for the Games. The Belarus capital was only named as host by the European Olympic Committees in October 2016 following the abortive award of the second Games to Russia. The original choice had to be rescinded in the fall-out following the Russian doping scandal that emerged to public view in 2015. So these two Games have had much in common in dealing with the profound challenge of negotiating the step-change from running a single international event to running an international multi-sports championship. There are differences, too, however, and big ones, between the Baku 2015 and Minsk 2019 Games that will run from June 21 to 30.
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While the former had plentiful funds to bring in a lot of instant know-how in the form of experienced, international sports administrators, Minsk – distinctly less plutocratic than Baku – has looked largely to homegrown talents to make a success of the event. Getting a handle on the exponential level of complexity involved in an interdependent multi-event Games is probably the biggest challenge involved – that, and reacting appropriately and efficiently. One man with ample first-hand experience of this challenge is Simon Clegg, who spent 20 years with the British Olympic Association and was chief operating officer for Baku 2015. He is currently involved in ensuring the successful delivery of the Minsk 2019 European Games as its executive director on behalf of its overseeing body, the European Olympic Committees. He offers an example of the kind of apparently small occurrence which, if not well managed, can throw a Games into confusion. “Say you have an athletes’ bus that breaks down on the way to the venue,” he suggests. “Firstly there will be an impact on your transport arrangements as you provide a back-up. Maybe that would be transport earmarked for another venue. “The delay in the athletes reaching the venue will mean you have to postpone the start time. That is going to impact on the broadcasting. “There will also be an impact in terms of those athletes getting back late to the Athletes’ Village. That might mean that the restaurant has to be open later. “And all of this will have an effect on the volunteers involved at each point, with repercussions in terms of their travel and meals. “If you are putting on a single sport event such a circumstance is easily manageable. It’s when you have the interdependence of a multi-sports event, with different sports going on at the same time in the same city, that the challenge increases to another level. It’s a different ball game.” What remains to be seen is how Minsk 2019, with its relative lack of internationally experienced operators, will cope if anything goes wrong – particularly in terms of media interaction. That will be another serious test of how well the organisers have taken on their new continental role. Of course, the Minsk 2019 Games, with its economies and home reliance, fit more happily into the International Olympic Committee’s hybridised Agenda 2020 concept of the New Norm. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
The Opening Ceremony of the 2015 European Games in Baku was an extravagant affair. Photo: Getty Images
The sensible ambition of its policy in terms of venues is also just the kind of thing the IOC is now happy to see. Of the 12 venues that will be employed, all but one – the Olympic Sport Complex – already existed. And the Complex is hardly grandiose, comprising as it does of two neat, bespoke arenas to stage archery and beach football during the Games, with a total capacity of 1,200 spectators. There has been some significant upgrading of the shooting venue, and of the Dinamo Stadium that will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics, which will pioneer the new Dynamic New Athletics format put together by European Athletics. This will conclude with a final, Gundersen-style race where teams start at different times according to the points they have collected thus far, with first past the post being the winner. Around 4,000 athletes from 50 countries are expected, to take part in 15 different sports involving 23 disciplines. Crucially, with its place in the calendar a year before the Olympics and Paralympics, the European Games is well placed to offer Games qualification opportunities – which this year will be on offer in 10 sports. Delegates at the 40th EOC Seminar in Vienna heard in May that preparations were complete for the following month’s staging of the Games. @insidethegames
Standing alongside three members of the Games Organising Committee, Spyros Capralos, chair of the EOC Coordination Commission for Minsk 2019, said: “Minsk is ready to host the Games and I’m confident your athletes and yourselves will have a great experience in Belarus. “All venues are ready and operational and are waiting for the best European athletes. “The overlay setting as well as the look of the Games in the venues has already started. “The Athletes' Village will be excellent. Many of the issues that we raised during the visits of the Coordination Commission have been addressed. “For example, there has been refurbishing in all the bathrooms in the apartments and new mattresses and bed extensions have been put in place, so your athletes will be really comfortable there. “As far as the athletics competition goes, there have been some changes to the DNA programme. “We held a test event 10 days ago and are confident it’s going to be an excellent competition. “Twenty-four teams will be involved, with the agreement of the European Athletics Federation.” Capralos brought to the Seminar’s attention the fact that, on June 23, the IOC will be inviting Presidents of all European NOCs to celebrate
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the opening of its new headquarters in Lausanne. “What we have done in order to facilitate this is to charter a flight,” he said. “It will leave Minsk very early in the morning and take the Presidents of the NOCs to Lausanne, and come back in the evening.” Returning to other arrangements for the Games, he added: “The TV production in Minsk will be of high quality. I think we will have great images from the Games. “A total of 43 European countries will be broadcasting the Games on a daily basis. “Another seven European countries that don’t have TV rights will be getting daily highlights. “So the whole of Europe will be getting the Games. “Around the world there are 83 other countries that have shown interest and acquired the rights. “So the rest of the world is showing a big interest and of course it’s normal because it’s only one year before Tokyo 2020 and they know that European athletes are very strong and they want to know how they are doing. “Finally, we are making efforts with the Olympic Channel so that for the territories where broadcasting and TV rights are not sold, the Olympic Channel can broadcast to those countries. “I would like to remind everybody here that the European Games is our Games. "We need to do our best so that this project
becomes a big success, so that for the third edition we will have the best lessons so that we have even better Games going forward.” Siarhei Shablyka, deputy chief executive of Minsk 2019, echoed the earlier announcement by Capralos that Minsk would be ready to stage the second European Games. “Construction of all 15 competition venues is complete,” he said. His fellow Minsk 2019 deputy chief executive, Anatol Kotau, said the second stage of development at Minsk International Airport had also been completed. He added: “We are about to put on sale 190,000 tickets. “At the moment karate, athletics, beach soccer and gymnastics look like making the biggest sales.” From having, anomalously, no continental multi-sport championships – something that Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas have long enjoyed – Europe thus finds itself with two. One is classic model, in the form of the European Games, while the second, which emerged last year as a planned quadrennial event, is the European Championships. For 2018 the European Championships were more of a loosely linked combination of competitions that were nevertheless as one in terms of branding, with the achieved ambition of leveraging more advantageous marketing and TV rights.
Minsk 2019 are using existing facilities to stage the European Games. Photo: Getty Images
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The Torch Relay is helping build excitement in Belarus for Minsk 2019 . Photo: Minsk 2019
With Berlin already contracted and committed to hosting what turned out to be a superb version of the European Athletics Championships – the “best ever”, according to EA President Svein Arne Hansen – the responsibility for staging the other sports involved, namely aquatics, cycling, rowing, triathlon and gymnastics, fell to Scotland and Glasgow. Of the latter, one – golf – took place at Gleneagles, while the diving was hosted by the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. On the back of what was universally acknowledged as a highly successful event there have been numerous expressions of interest in hosting the next version in 2022. In March, Munich’s city councillors voted to prepare a bid that would be coordinated with, and jointly funded by, the German Federal Government and the state of Bavaria. Germany has been strongly linked with the 2022 event since the athletics closed in Berlin’s 1936 Olympic Stadium, with Hamburg and the region of North RhineWestphalia also expressing strong interest. Berlin could also be interested again while the Swedish cities of Gothenburg and Malmö are others reportedly keeping tabs. It remains possible that more than one city could again share the sports. Organisers of the Baku 2015 Games pointed out before competition got underway that the European percentage of medals at the Olympics between 1988 and 2008 had fallen from 74 to 38. While that figure was ameliorated by efforts at Rio 2016, one of the most enduring virtues of the impending Games in Minsk is that they will offer athletes, and in particular young athletes, an invaluable experience of what an Olympics feels like. At least, that is, until the Olympics starts to spread itself around to different cities and regions….
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Peru on track to deliver
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Pan Am Games Lima is entering the closing stages of preparations for this year’s Pan American Games and, after early problems, there is optimism that the city will stage an outstanding event. Nancy Gillen speaks to Panam Sports President Neven Ilic about how things are going.
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he Peruvian capital of Lima is gearing up to host the latest edition of the Pan American Games, with more than 6,000 athletes set to descend on the city from July 26 to August 11 to compete across 39 sports. The multi-sport event is organised every four years by the continental association for the Americas, Panam Sports.
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Elected in April 2017, President and International Olympic Committee member Neven Ilic is overseeing the organisation of the Games for the first time. The Chilean agreed to discuss the upcoming event with insidethegames from Lausanne, where he had been attending the latest Association of National Olympic Committees Council Board meeting. He has no doubt updated his colleagues on progress in Lima and sounds extremely confident when doing the same for me. “May marked exactly two years since my first visit to Lima to inspect the progress of the Games, and at that time there was absolutely nothing,” Ilic reflects. “But we took the time to plan how we could help them move forward in the right direction and that approach has been executed perfectly, which is a tremendous credit to the Organising Committee. Now we are focused on ensuring the overall Games
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experience is perfect, because our Games are not just about the infrastructure, and not just about high-quality sport, but also the athlete experience, which must meet the highest of standards. “We are working very hard on the details. But the infrastructural advances and all of the basics we believe are necessary to the host Pan American Games are already in perfect condition. We know that the road ahead will have many aspects that will need to improve and be polished, but we are in a position to give our athletes one of the best Pan American Games in history.” Lima, one of the largest cities in South America, is welcoming the Pan American Games for the first time. Ilic hopes that its metropolitan population of just under 10 million people will provide an enthusiastic audience for the event. “I want to see all the stadiums full of people enjoying sport, encouraging the athletes, and
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NANCY GILLEN JUNIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES feeling proud of the magnificent legacy that will remain for many generations to take advantage,” he says. “They have prepared themselves in the best way to host these Pan American Games. The public has gradually become more involved in this event and the country will be proud of what is happening on their soil. “The great spirit of the Pan American Games is to be able to generate a change in sport policies in each country, and these changes occur when people realise that their nation is capable of doing things at a world-class level. Lima is preparing at a high level. I think everyone will be surprised at the quality of each of the things that have been done.” Hosting such a competition for the first time will inevitably bring challenges, however, especially because the Pan American Games will be the largest sporting event that Lima has held. When Ilic visited the city in January, he had reiterated his previous concerns regarding the adequacy of the transport infrastructure in Lima. With the Opening Ceremony looming ever closer, is this still a worry of his? “It’s no mystery that transportation is a great challenge in the day-to-day life of Lima,” comes Ilic’s reply. “But we have had multiple meetings with the highest authorities, because they are also aware that it is part of the overall
Lima 2019 mascot Milco has been helping spread the message of the Pan American Games. Photo: Lima 2019
experience to be able to mobilise in a good way, especially for athletes who have to be able to reach their competitions and return on time. To this end, several important measures have been taken, such as having exclusive routes, police protection for each of the buses that will transport athletes and Pan American family vehicles. Additionally, schools will be on vacation during this period, and I believe that each of these aspects can reduce the impact of transportation in the city of Lima.” The transport issue may be on its way to getting fixed, but a more pressing problem has recently rocked preparations for Lima 2019.
A series of test events have been held in the build-up to Lima 2019. Photo: Lima 2019
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With just weeks to go until the start of action, it was announced that skateboarding had been axed from the sporting programme. At the time, the Panam Sports Executive Committee criticised both World Skate and the Pan American Confederation of Roller Sports for not meeting the standards required for the Pan American Games. Ilic confirms that the decision was made due to a “lack of respect”. “The removal of skateboarding was not a decision of mine alone, but one made by the entire Executive Committee of Panam Sports, and it was tough because we know that this will affect many athletes in a negative way,” he explains. “When we decided to include skateboarding, there were certain conditions that we had agreed upon with the leaders of that sport. One of these conditions was that the Pan American Games would deliver qualification to the Olympic Games, a condition that in the end was never fulfilled, but we moved on. “However, we found out that
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with only a few months remaining until the Pan American Games, an Olympic qualification event had been scheduled in Los Angeles on the exact same dates of our skateboarding event. We found this unacceptable and a lack of respect to all of us who have put forth a lot of effort to create world-class facilities for skateboarding at Lima 2019.” As would be expected, skateboarding’s expulsion created shockwaves around the sporting world. With the sport set to appear at the Olympics for the first time in Tokyo next year, World Skateboarding Federation President Tim McFerran warned that its debut could be “embarrassing”. Would Ilic consider working with skateboarding again in its present state? “I think that skateboarding is a great sport that inspires the youth and is very interesting,” he says. “The lesson we learned from the relationship we had on the Pan American level is that we have to sit down and talk in a much clearer way about how we are going to
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Paradise Calling for
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S Builders have worked hard to ensure the Athletes’ Village for Lima 2019 is ready on time. Photo: Lima 2019
work together in the future. But I believe that skateboarding is a very attractive sport and that it can be in the Pan American Games, but its inclusion in our event will always depend on whether or not the rules and agreements we establish with both parties are fulfilled.” By the end of the summer, then, Ilic would have overseen his first Pan American Games. The next edition is due to take place in the capital of his home country, Santiago. Ilic will go into that event with more experience and knowledge of what makes a successful event. Having said that, I ask Ilic what he will take with him from Lima to Santiago. “The biggest lesson I have learned is that you cannot waste your time,” he replies. “The big problem that Lima had was that they lost three years without the pressure from Panam Sports to plan their work accordingly. This is the same thing that we are now demanding from Chile.
PanAm Sports President Neven Ilic inspects facilities in Lima. Photo: Lima 2019
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When you announce the host city five or six years in advance, it’s because we want them to take all of that time planning, investing and constructing. “I believe that in Lima, although they managed to make up for lost time, one of the biggest things we’ve learned is that it’s hard to do in two years’ time what should have been done in six. “The lesson is to be on top of the host cities from day one, demanding that the deadlines are met, and the programmes are set so that things progress naturally, especially from the point of view of planning and investment. Governments are not prepared to invest everything in one or two years, so it is always advisable to utilise the time provided.” It is clear that both Lima 2019 and Santiago 2023 are always at the forefront of Ilic’s mind. As the interview concludes, he shares his last thought on the upcoming years for the host cities of the Pan American Games. “I hope that the cities will improve from the Games', and I trust that Lima is going to hold a spectacular and wonderful Games,” he says. “I hope that Santiago continues to grow and also hosts an incredible sports festival in 2023.” With that, Ilic disappears back into business in Lausanne, ready to deliver what he believes will be “one of the best Pan American Games in history”. @insidethegames
amoa is set to host the 16th edition of the Pacific Games from July 7 to 20. It is a huge undertaking, with the country’s capital city Apia pulling together the region’s biggest sporting event in less than two years. The event had initially been awarded to Tonga but the national Government officially withdrew from hosting it in May 2017 amid concerns the country could face economic difficulties if it proceeded. It means Samoan organisers have had a shorter time than usual to prepare for the quadrennial event, having been chosen to replace Tonga in September 2017. Over a two-week period, 24 countries are due to compete in 27 sports at 20 venues. There will be more than 5,000 athletes and officials in Samoa. Samoa 2019 will see the introduction of an additional discipline for basketball, the 3x3 format, as well as the return of archery and badminton, both of which were not on the programme for the 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby. The other sports that will be contested are athletics, beach volleyball, boxing, cricket, football, golf, judo, lawn bowls, netball, powerlifting, rugby sevens, rugby league nines, sailing, shooting and squash. Swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, touch rugby, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting and the canoeing discipline va’a will also feature. One of the 20 venues is Apia Park Stadium, which will play host to the Opening Ceremony on July 7 and the Closing Ceremony on July 20. It will also serve as the setting for rugby nines, rugby sevens and athletics competition. The aim of the Pacific Games is to promote a unique, friendly world-class competition and to develop sport for the benefit of the people, the nations and the territories of the Pacific community. The Samoa 2019 slogan is “One in Spirit”. Dan Etchells
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The World Urban Games will try to make their mark in a packed sporting schedule. Michael Pavitt explores if there is room for another major event.
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his year has been packed with multi-sport events but the Global Association of International Sports Federations are hoping there is room for one more to make its mark. All eyes at GAISF are on Budapest where their World Urban Games will become the newest addition to the sporting calendar in September. The awarding of the event to the Hungarian capital only happened in March, highlighting just how new the event is. But the concept itself has been around for several years and has endured a bumpy road to get to this stage. The Games were initially proposed by former SportAccord President Marius Vizer back in
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2014, with the aim of holding the first edition in 2017. Vizer’s untimely departure saw the proposal placed on the back-burner. With SportAccord rebadged as GAISF, Vizer’s successor Patrick Baumann revitalised the idea in 2018 and pledged to deliver a celebration of new-generation sports and a showcase of urban athletes. If that was not enough, organisers also promised to celebrate sports forged through urban culture by highlighting their creativity, lifestyle and the engagement between competitors and fans. A festival running alongside the Games was also promised, featuring youth-focused music. "The World Urban Games are designed to
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reflect how sport refuses to stand still and will continue to evolve as our lifestyles and leisure choices change,” Baumann said as expressions of interest were requested. “But while these are new sports to many, they demand the same determination, skill, bravery, commitment and single-minded pursuit of excellence as all others. The Games will also provide a sustainable continuity and be a valuable test platform for the urban cluster concept that has seen the light at the Youth Olympic Games and will now be incorporated for the first time in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.” Los Angeles hadf originally been selected as the hosts of the inaugural Games last
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Los Angeles were awarded the first World Urban Games before the unexpected death of Patrick Baumann. Photo: Getty Images
November, just weeks after Baumann’s shock death at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics. Barcelona, Budapest and Tokyo had also lodged their interest in hosting. Another chapter in the tricky tale of turning the World Urban Games concept into reality came four months later as Budapest stepped in to replace the American city as the 2019 and 2021 hosts. It was claimed that Hungary’s proposed sports programme was more in line with GAISF's vision for the future of the Games. This vision evidently includes 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle park, breakdancing, freestyle flying disc, parkour, modern pentathlon laser-run and sprint orienteering - the disciplines quickly confirmed on the sport programme. Initiation sessions will also take place in indoor rowing and baseball5, the new street version of baseball. These have been listed as showcase events by GAISF and are touted as being both innovative and appealing to youth, meaning there is the potential to deliver fun sport initiations. The programme certainly represents a shift from the original vision for the World Urban Games pitched by Vizer and latterly Baumann. The seven competition sports included is half of the initially planned 14 disciplines. It is perhaps part of the reason the five-day extravaganza was slimmed down to a three-day competition. GAISF will hope its faith in Budapest to deliver an impressive product in the shortened window pays off as they seek to blend sport with urban culture. The choice of Budapest as the replacement host would not have come as a shock to many, as the Games are just the latest sporting event to be drawn towards the city. The Hungarian capital appears to have had a gravitational pull in recent years, with International Federations and other sport organisers continuing to award their events to the city. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Barring their withdrawal from the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic race, Budapest succeeded in securing and hosting the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and will host the World Athletics Championships in 2023. Just weeks after securing the World Urban Games hosting rights, Budapest was also confirmed as the destination for the Grande Partenza – The Big Start – of the 2020 Giro d’Italia. Hungary’s capital was billed as a “great fit” for the World Urban Games by Balázs Fürjes, the State Secretary for the Development of Budapest and Major Sport Events. "I believe that our city, Budapest, will make the first edition of the World Urban Games an incredible experience for both athletes and fans," Fürjes said when the Games were awarded.
Marius Vizer had first come up with the idea of the World Urban Games in 2014. Photo: Getty Images
"The city is steeped in history and culture, and it is also one of the best European places for young people to live and work. The Hungarian capital is an innovative city that is always ready for pioneering opportunities."
3x3 basketball will be part of the World Urban Games in Budapest. Photo: Getty Images
The promise of innovation and pioneering opportunities was shown to the GAISF General Assembly this year in Gold Coast, when Budapest took the exact opposite stance on venue discussions as is expected, where federations are normally reassured about how brilliant their state-of-the-art facility is. "It’s crap," Budapest 2019 communications director Iván Rózsa told delegates. He suggested the Big Market venue would be one of the last places federations would normally consider for their events, claiming it is filled with “waste and syringes”. Budapest 2019 went on to explain that the former food logistic centre, constructed in the 1930s, will be resuscitated for the Games with a major clean-up operation set to take place. It is hoped the effort will ensure the Games provide a major lift to the area, which is located within 15 minutes of the city centre and lies close to the River Danube. The revamp of the industrial area will include the development of an “Xtreme Park”, with a national athletics centre and a rowing centre expected to be completed prior to the Games.
Innovative and appealing to youths, that is the criteria for inclusion in the World Urban Games . Photo: Getty Images
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62 STRONG NATIONS
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In 2018 we were honored to receive Provisional Recognition from the International Olympic Committee. In 2019 we proudly unveiled our new name, logo and brand platform.
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Breaking will be part of the World Urban Games five years before it makes its Olympic debut. Photo: Getty Images
Given the already graffitied walls at the Big Market, organisers viewed the venue as being perfect for the Games with little decoration needed. The size of the venue will allow for several sports to be held inside, while there is space for outdoor events, sport initiations, sponsor activities and the promised youthcentred festival. The festival, Budapest 2019 claim, will serve as a showcase of music, dance and urban culture as well as sport. Budapest 2019 have targeted 30,000 people attending the Games each day, with the expectation that they will ultimately reach 100,000 fans by the close of the event. Talks are already underway with National Federations over post-Games use in the revitalised area. This, coupled with the promise of hosting the 2021 event, has led to Budapest 2019 suggesting locals may begin participating in the sports with a view to competing in two years’ time.
Budapest will host the first World Urban Games. Photo: Getty Images
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As the Games are a slimmed down threeday event with a more manageable programme and budget - a figure of $7 million has been mooted – it is possible the 2019 version could be viewed as something of a “free hit” for Budapest and GAISF. Unlike most cities hosting an embryonic event, Budapest could potentially benefit from the adjustments and fine-tuning of the concept which will inevitably happen. The short time frame before the awarding has perhaps contributed to slightly lowered expectations and a much more manageable proposition. Compare this to the Association of National Olympic Committees World Beach Games, which despite being announced three years before the World Urban Games and was due to take place in San Diego a month later - until it was cancelled last month. The long build-up to the Games in San Diego had certainly raised expectations for the event to hit the ground running, particularly when it is had a sports programme double the size and a budget planned to be five times larger. The two new Games taking place almost back-to-back had prompted further concerns that the sporting calendar is becoming oversaturated. A challenge for Budapest 2019 will be ensuring the World Urban Games can stand out in the market and grab the attention of fans, particularly given the short build-up time. Organisers have said that talks are underway with national partners in Hungary to provide coverage, while the Olympic @insidethegames
Channel are also expected to show the action. The establishment of events such as the World Beach Games and World Urban Games also pose a long-term question about where sports belong in the multi-sport landscape. As “new” events in the Olympic world over the past couple of years, both 3x3 basketball and skateboarding have suddenly found themselves on the programme for the events in both Budapest and San Diego. The removal of BMX freestyle from the World Beach Games programme saved us from the baffling scenario where the discipline would have featured at three “world” events in consecutive months, with the International Cycling Union World Urban Championships due to take place in November. With a choice of multiple events to choose from, there are risks that athletes will either opt in favour of the one they consider the premier event to the detriment of the other, or that top-level competitors will spread across multiple competitions. You could also have the prospect of an athlete winning multiple world events within the space of a few weeks. Thankfully, there appears little chance of the three sports finding their way onto the programme for the recently announced World Combat Games in 2021. Although it would promise to be a very interesting watch if they were included. I wonder, after the explosion of events over recent years, where sports have been crowbarred onto programmes, if we could see a settling down period where they find a place to thrive? Is it possible the likes of breakdancing and skateboarding could serve as the marquee sports for the World Urban Games, rather than potentially serving as cool side events on an oversized Olympic Games programme? Would surfing benefit from being the main sport at a trimmed down World Beach Games? There is certainly the potential for the likes of the World Urban Games to establish themselves as a manageable event on the calendar, which is tailor made for International Federations to promote specific events and for hosts to put on a cost-effective and impressive show. Equally there is the risk these new events will be unable to make themselves heard above the noise and disappear almost as quickly as they have arrived. The coming months will prove interesting to see whether this new kids on the block can show its potential.
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Judo’s coming home Judo is on the cusp of a momentous few years with Japan, the sport’s spiritual home, hosting both this year’s World Championships and the 2020 Olympic Games. Then it is on to Paris 2024 in judo-mad France. Mike Rowbottom speaks to International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer about an exciting period.
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he Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo has witnessed many evenings of high excitement since being built to stage judo’s first appearance at an Olympic Games in 1964. Among those who have provided entertainment in this 14,500-capacity venue down the years are The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. But aside from classic musical performances, there has been a long succession of professional wrestling matches and naturally, given that Budokan translates as “martial arts hall”, of kendo, karate, aikido and judo contests. In the space of the next year, the Budokan atmosphere is about to be taken to stratospheric levels once again as the sport for which it was built stages a World Championships that will serve as the test event for the following year’s action in the same hallowed venue at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
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And four years beyond that, the sport will return to what many would regard as its second home as Paris stages the 2024 Games. Judo is on the brink of an extraordinary, supercharging opportunity. It’s a good time to be President of the International Judo Federation - as IJF President Marius Vizer, former head of SportAccord, happily acknowledges. “The World Judo Championships and the Olympic Games are the most important events of our sport,” he told insidethegames. “The World Judo Championships to be held in Tokyo, with only one year prior to the Olympic Games, will delight the judo community with a unique event as judo returns to its homeland after 55 years since judo became an Olympic sport in 1964. “Tokyo 2020 will represent a relaunch and revival of our sport after 55 years since it came into existence in the Olympic family and
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at the same time, it marks the homecoming of judo. “Moreover, Tokyo 2020 will be a promotion for the further edition of the Olympics, in 2024, in Paris.” The phrase “it’s coming home”, popularised in the song which celebrated the staging of the 1996 UEFA European Football Championships in England, where football began, has since been used in countless, less valid contexts.
Dutchman Anton Geesink was among the gold medallists when judo made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 1964. Photo: Getty Images
But the renovation of this tag in the case of judo returning to its own homeland is entirely just. Judo was established in Japan in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, based on an integration of traditional Japanese self-defence forms. Fittingly, the first edition of the IJF World Championships took place in Tokyo in 1956, being held at the Kuramae Kokugikan. There were no weight classes at this point, and a home judoka, Shokichi Natsui, became the first world judo champion after defeating fellow countryman Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu. Two years later, the fledgling World Championships returned to the same city, being held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. In 1961, the World Championships had their first non-Japanese host when they were staged in Paris, where Dutch judoka Anton Geesink defeated the defending champion, Japan’s Koji Sone, to become the first non-Japanese open weight world champion. Almost 60 years on, Tokyo and Paris stand ready to serve as the hub of the sport once again - and a non-Japanese men’s open weight world champion, France’s Teddy Riner, prepares to defend his Olympic title. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
As things have turned out, the IJF World Championships that will take place at the Nippon Budokan from August 25 to 31 will be the first global judo championships to be hosted there since those landmark Tokyo 1964 Games, at which Geesink won the open category but the other three golds on offer went to home judokas. The IJF World Championships, now in the mixed format, returned to Japan in 1995, when they were held in Chiba, in 2003 when they were held in Osaka, and 2010 when, although they returned to Tokyo, they were held in the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. Thus the sport now contemplates a return to its Olympic mothership before taking centre stage at the 15,000-capacity ParisBercy Arena in 2024. The IJF World Championships returned to Paris in 1979, 1982 - in the form of the second Women’s World Championships before the event became mixed in 1987 - 1997 and 2011. The frequency of their hosting of the global championships underlines the position of Japan and France as the two powerhouses of judo. In a piece published in January last year, the IJF assessed the profound role played in the sport by France, pointing out that it had more than 600,000 practising judoka involved in a network of 5,700 clubs. This pre-eminence is reflected also in sporting statistics. In terms of an individual powerhouse, Riner, tops the all-time list of male medallists with 11 medals, 10 of them gold. He, incidentally, is giving these World
France’s Teddy Riner hopes to defend his Olympic title at Tokyo 2020. Photo: Getty Images
Championships a miss as he attempts to extend his career to the defence of his Olympic title in Tokyo next year and, he hopes, a further defence when the Games come to his home city of Paris in 2024. But while Riner may not be taking part in the imminent Championships, he has been very much involved in the Tokyo judo scene, having trained recently in the Japanese capital and even sparred with the man he beat to the Rio 2016 title, Hisayoshi Harasawa. A scan down the men’s individual all-time medal list also reflects the sense of Japan and France being at the heart of the sport. Naoya Ogawa is second in the list, having won seven over-95 kilograms medals between 1987 and 1995, four of them gold.
The Nippon Budokan in Tokyo is judo’s cathedral. Photo: Getty Images
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Marius Vizer, left, is in charge of the International Judo Federation at an exciting time for the sport. Photo: Getty Images
France’s David Douillet is joint third on the list with four golds between 1993 and 1997, level with two other Japanese judoka – Shōzō Fujii and Yasuhiro Yamashita. There are four other Japanese judoka in the top 10. It is a fair bet that Japan and France will be adding to their global medal collection in the Olympic test event, which is due to involve more than 700 athletes seeking 56 individual medals. After the 14 individual events, the new mixed team event will take place with the Japanese team being strong favourites. The Japanese selection for the impending World Championships was announced soon after the staging of an intriguing edition of the All-Japan Championships. At the official press conference, it was announced that Soichi Hashimoto, the 2017 individual world champion and 2018 silver medallist in the lightweight under-73kg category would not be selected, having lost to the Rio 2016 champion, Shohei Ono. Harasawa is looking likely to deliver a huge home flourish in the men’s open weight section in the absence of Riner. And Japan will be hoping to tilt more medals their way in the women’s competition with competitors of the quality of defending champions Uta Abe in the under-52kg and Chizuru Arai in the under-70kg. The 18-year-old Abe will be on a likely collision course with the Rio 2016 champion Majlinda Kelmendi of Kosovo, which could provide one of the Championships’ memorable meetings. www.facebook.com/insidethegames
Ono’s weight category includes South Korea’s world champion An Chang-rim, while another battle royal could be in prospect in the women’s under-63kg category, which contains France’s world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou and Slovenia’s Rio 2016 gold medallist Tina Trstenjak. Japan has earned almost twice as many Olympic medals as its nearest challenger France and has as many golds as its next four challengers - France, South Korea, China and Cuba - put together. Aside from a rapt audience in the Budokan, the spectacle is expected to be enjoyed by television viewers in more than 130 countries. How dominant does Vizer expect the host nation to be in Tokyo in terms of medals at the World Championships and Olympics? And how important will it be for Japan to do well? “I estimate that at the 2019 World Judo Championships, Japan will achieve excellent results,” he told insidethegames. “At the same time, I am convinced that at the Olympic Games, the participation of other countries on the podium will be even greater than at the current World Championships.” Seven women’s gold medals at Rio 2016 were shared by seven nations. Does Vizer believe this shows the balance of power is more evenly distributed in women’s judo than in men’s - or does he think the forthcoming World Championships and Olympic event in Tokyo will see certain nations moving ahead? “I believe that the presence of female athletes with a quota of 50 per cent at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games constitutes a @insidethegames
paramount event,” he responded. “We have an equal quota for women and men for the first time at the Games. “And having a first participation of judo in the Olympic Games with a mixed team event will give more expressiveness to the values of judo. Solidarity and unity will contribute essentially to the promotion of Judo worldwide and to the rise in popularity within the Olympic Movement.” Asked how much of a pointer the imminent World Championships will be to predicting the Tokyo 2020 Games medallists, Vizer commented: “The World Judo Championships will not only be a landmark but also an assessment of the value of the athlete and of the sport before the Tokyo Olympic Games. “The participation in the World Judo Championships in Tokyo, only one year prior to the Olympic Games, constitutes a great challenge but also an honour for the athlete and the national delegation. “The crucial moment for our sport lies in the fact that for one year, the World Judo Championships and the Olympic Games are held in Japan, a country that provided humanity with a sport, an art and a philosophy contributing to the betterment of society, educating and fostering the youth in the light of the values and principles of judo.” And Vizer revealed that, at this historically significant moment in the sport’s pathway, there will be a timely reflection upon the road already travelled: “On this occasion,” he said, “we will celebrate this meaningful event by making an award to the best female and male judoka of all Olympic Games editions.”
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Krasnoyarsk Naples
A year of TWO Games The International University Sport Federation began their year in Krasnoyarsk. With thoughts now turning to Naples, Michael Pavitt spoke to FISU President Oleg Matytsin about the past and future.
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ot many people will travel from the relatively unknown Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to the historic Italian city of Naples in their lifetime, but the International University Sport Federation are taking that very journey as part of its double bill of Universiade events in 2019. The Winter Universiade enjoyed high priority in Russia in March as the country held its first international multi-sport event since Sochi 2014 and the doping scandal which has tarnished the legacy of those Winter Olympics. The presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, respectively, highlighted how seriously the Universiade was taken by the hosts, with the former on hand to distribute the first medals to athletes. If anyone was left in doubt as to how seriously the event and university sport is taken
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in Russia, compelling evidence came with the country ending with 98 more medals than South Korea, who ended second on the final medals table. The dominance had a couple of asterisks. The first being the host nation’s delegation dwarfing all others in size. Their monopoly of biathlon and cross-country skiing titles was also partly down to the absence of Ukrainian athletes, after the country’s Government declined FISU’s offer to fund their participation. This was amid their decision not to compete or provide funds as part of a protest against their neighbour's annexation of Crimea in 2014. An absence of top American athletes was also cited, with National Championships viewed as being of greater importance to those in the United States. This is a view FISU are attempting to alter with Lake Placid set to host the 2023 Winter Universiade. In Krasnoyarsk “Real Winter” was promised in the motto for the Universiade, but minus 40 degree temperatures abated in the week prior to competition. It was beneficial to the tourist board, who were able to showcase that there was more to life in Siberia than many visitors would have previously thought. High level competitions and sport venues were shown off, along with a range of cultural activities which ran throughout the event.
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FISU officials admitted being unable to pronounce the name of Krasnoyarsk six years ago when the Russian city sought the rights to host the Winter Universiade. By the close of the university sport event in March, which saw 3,000 athletes compete across 11 sports, the organisation believed the city had showcased itself as a potential destination for more events. "Now Krasnoyarsk is on the map of the world because it was on television and promoted,” said Eric Saintrond, FISU secretary general and chief executive. “People will say this is Siberia, but we can do something there as well. "The important thing is to bring other people here and hold events, such as cultural events. Sport competition is fine, but you must have tourism and bring business. This is a fantastic way to promote your city and region." FISU President Oleg Matytsin claimed Krasnoyarsk had set new standards for preparation and hospitality. It is now hoped Krasnoyarsk can follow in the lead of fellow Universiade hosts, such as Kazan, and establish themselves on the sporting map. The Sopka Cluster, one of the key facilities built for the Universiade, has been billed as a potential home of future freestyle skiing and snowboard events. The facility which has courses for moguls, slopestyle, halfpipe and aerials, was compared favourably with Olympic standard facilities.
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Vladimir Putin’s appearance showed how important Krasnoyarsk 2019 was in Russia. Photo: Getty Images
"There are many plans,” Matytsin said. "It is one part of the legacy. "I also spoke with the manager of the curling venue and before the Universiade they promoted the sport around the region. It means there is a great legacy in Krasnoyarsk and I believe all other snow and ice sports will think about how to use these high standard venues to host world competitions." While Krasnoyarsk had long been preparing for the Winter Universiade, Naples was parachuted in as hosts of the summer event back in March 2016, ending FISU’s search for a replacement for Brasilia. The Brazilian capital had initially secured the right to stage the event, only to withdraw in 2015 citing financial concerns. The shorter time frame has provided problems for Italian organisers and FISU. “Smoothly, smoothly,” Matytsin chuckled when asked how preparations were progressing with just months to go.
“There are still problems. They have had not so much time, but they have done as much as they can.” At times you sense FISU have been attempting to cajole Naples 2019 into providing solutions in the build-up, with the organisation grateful for the Italians stepping into the breach but acutely aware of issues. The issues were in evidence with four months to go prior to the Universiade Opening Ceremony, when FISU confirmed they were awaiting confirmation of the Closing Ceremony venue, as well as a delegation visa policy. A route for the flame relay and unveiling of a mascot had also yet to be determined at this stage. While neither are essential in terms of holding sporting competitions, both are clearly instrumental in increasing the anticipation and promotion of the Universiade in Italy and beyond. Despite the challenges posed, FISU have expressed their confidence that the Universiade will be delivered at a high standard.
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Italian national sport federations have agreed to provide sport managers to ensure competitions go off without a hitch, while FISU staff have been working on a day-to-day basis with organisers as the clock ticks down. “We have helped a lot and we have a lot of staff there,” Matytsin said. “Our director of the Summer Universiade has been there 24
hours a day, seven days a week. We provided all documentation, masterplans and experts from previous Universiades. We have venues, accommodation and we have an understanding about the Games.” FISU have been keen to stress the opportunities athletes will have in Naples, as well as how the Campania region will benefit
FISU President Oleg Matytsin oversaw a successful Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. Photo: Getty Images
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from staging the 30th edition of the Summer Universiade. Athletes will be able to take advantage of being housed on cruise ships during the Universiade, with the ships forming part of the village. FISU officials have joked that federations might have to ensure the athletes do not enjoy themselves too much on the ships, with cinemas and discos among potential distractions. The Summer Universiade has previously provided a launch-pad for athletes, with several players participating at this year’s Women’s World Cup in France having featured in Universiade football tournaments. World and Olympic medallists are expected to be among the starters at events in Naples. Organisers will hope of a repeat of competition standards in Taipei two years ago, where several performances made headlines. Among them was the men’s javelin competition in which the top two athletes threw distances that would have earned gold at the World Athletics Championships a month prior.
The San Paolo Stadium will be a key venue at the Summer Universiade. Photo: Getty Images
Away from competition, athletes will have the opportunity to take in local attractions. Naples 2019 have been keen to highlight Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast as further reasons to attend the event. The local population’s enjoyment of sport was noted by FISU’s leadership, with the passion of fans of Serie A giants Napoli highlighted. Their San Paolo Stadium home is set to provide the venue for the Opening Ceremony and athletics events. The venue’s capacity is set to be reduced from 60,000 to 55,000 as part of renovations which are being delivered for the Summer Universiade. This will include railings replacing fences and new blue seats and an athletics track being installed, with the colour scheme aimed at representing the city’s branding. Renovations to the stadium, which was last updated prior to the 1990 FIFA World Cup, are not the only ones being carried out prior to the Universiade. Venues for the 18 sports www.facebook.com/insidethegames
A figure skater in full flow in Krasnoyarsk. Photo: Getty Images
on the programme will also be upgraded. “For Naples, the Universiade was a great opportunity to get a significant budget to rebuild infrastructure,” said Saintrond. “For Naples and the region of Campania, this will be huge.” “The venues themselves are good, but the maintenance had not been done for many, many years. Thanks to the Universiade they have been able to rebuild and refurbish everything, which will be fantastic for the local people. The people are happy we have helped to clean and refurbish facilities.” As well as highlighting the potential legacy for the region, Saintrond labelled Italy a great country for sport. The country, after all, will be hosting its fifth Summer Universiade as well as having previously staged six editions of the winter event. At a time when organisers are struggling to find a home for their competitions, FISU appear to have to secured locations for Universiades until at least 2023. Chinese city Chengdu will succeed Naples as Summer Universiade hosts in 2021, while Yekaterinburg in Russia looks increasingly likely to stage the 2023 event. Swiss city Lucerne and Lake Placid in the United States will host the next editions of the Winter Universiade. The Universiade could be set to spread its wings further afield with Asia, Europe and North America having predominantly provided hosts for the key events on the university sport calendar. Porto Alegre in Brazil remains the only South American host having held the third edition of the summer event in 1963, while a Universiade has never been staged in Africa or Oceania. "For the Winter Universiade we have interest from our friends from South Korea, the Olympic city of Pyeongchang,” Matytsin said. "It means we have understanding from potential organisers about our interest to @insidethegames
Attention now turns to Naples 2019. Photo: Naples 2019
organise the Games and use the facilities. It would help to promote and build a legacy for Olympic venues, as well as university sport." "We have interest from Argentina following the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last year and from Sydney in Australia. I met with the director of Johannesburg University in South Africa and they are thinking about either 2025 or 2027 for the summer.” A change in strategy has been viewed as key to FISU finding cities for the Universiade, particularly given the organisation needs one every two years. FISU leaders believe their decision to directly approach cities and work with them to form a candidature has proved productive. Saintrond said that while the process is less of a show than when a competitive process was held, the organisation can avoid missing out on great opportunities, which would have passed them by when candidates were beaten by rivals previously.
Russia dominated the medal table in Krasnoyarsk. Photo: Getty Images
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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES
Let’s stick together With the established sporting model under threat, Mike Rowbottom says it is important to have each other’s back.
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was musing the other day upon the European sports model. As you do. And for some reason that quote from the Gladiator film popped into my head - the bit where Maximus Decimus - or Russell Crowe, as he is better known - offers a piece of timely advice to his less experienced comrades-in-arms as they stand in the Colosseum waiting for who knows what to emerge by way of lethal challenge. "Whatever comes out of these gates, we've got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together we survive." As my insidethegames colleague Michael Pavitt has observed, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations' "Future of Global Sport" report published earlier this year should have had International Federations “shifting rather uncomfortably in their seat”. Compared to the words of the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who has more than once issued dire warnings in relation to the “threat of commercial enterprises”, the ASOIF report offered a differing reaction to the growing phenomenon of independent commercial bodies popping up to fund and support alternative sporting competitions. As potential conflict swirls on involving, for instance, the International Basketball Federation and International Swimming Federation against the disruption of the EuroLeague and International Swimming League, the ASOIF message is somewhat peremptory. "A protectionist approach is not going to cut it and IFs can ill-afford to rest on their laurels while claiming a historical right to govern a sport,” they said.
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Sportsmanship in action at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Photo: Getty Images
As the clamour for a new shape of international sport grows louder, this is surely the time for every self-respecting International Sports Federation to spend a little navel-gazing time. On the one hand, athletes such as Britain’s Olympic and world champion swimmer Adam Peaty, recently appointed as an ambassador for the newly-formed, handsomely-funded International Swimming League, have observed: "Twenty years ago, swimmers wanted this kind of thing to happen and finally now it is happening at a time the whole world of sport is changing and athletes are realising they have leverage and potential for something like this." That comment is perhaps emblematic of the new challenges that are rising up in all parts of the sporting forest for the bodies that have, for so many years, run things. Bach’s argument, which makes the point that the welfare of the rank-and-file is not and never has been within the remit of those who dream up exciting new sporting confections for public consumption, is powerful. And important one. As the late SportAccord and GAISF President Patrick Baumann observed, poignantly in retrospect: “It is a pleasure to bring SportAccord to Gold Coast, and I would like to thank the Government of Queensland for hosting SportAccord 2019. “The 17th edition of SportAccord will be a special one, as it will help mark the one-year anniversary of the delivery of a successful Commonwealth Games.” There is an important resonance here. One of the enduring virtues of the Commonwealth Games is that they are not the Olympics, or a World Championships. They are less - but also
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more. They are still regarded, by those outside and, at crucial points, those inside, as the Friendly Games. One of the enduring images of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games was that of Australia’s three finishers in the women’s 10,000 metres final, none of whom had earned medals, waiting by the finish line for the last runner to come home. It was a prolonged wait, given that Lesotho’s Lineo Chaka crossed the line five minutes after the winner and three minutes after her nearest rival. After greeting and embracing the pleasantly surprised Lesotho athlete, Celia Sullohern - sixth in a personal best – said: “It was lovely to stand there and show what I hope was a bit of Aussie sportsmanship.” In a way, the incident was unimportant. In another way, it was profoundly important. No disrespect to the gold medal winner on that day, Uganda’s Stella Chesang, but this gesture is likely to be better remembered than her victory. For home observers, this was a timely opportunity to look more kindly upon their native sporting folk in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal that was engulfing their national cricket team. So basically all that needs to happen is for all international sporting federations to feel the love and to recognise the deep importance they have, not so much above and beyond as below and beyond the basic commercial urge. Is this terribly fanciful? I fancy it is. Well, maybe chuck in some increased prize money. But be aware - when the lions and tigers are released, the feeling of having each others’ backs is not just valuable – it is vital.
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bwfbadminton
bwfbadminton.com
outdoor shuttlecock with increased resistance to wind, to allow people to have a more positive experience of badminton outdoors. The main considerations were that it must be played with the same rackets and have good flight performance, spin response and durability. The end goal was to create a new concept of the game, with the potential for a new, highly attractive form of competitive badminton, with a key focus on global participation. The vision is for it be played on three dynamic surfaces; hard, grass and sand – with a mass participation project aimed at increasing access to the sport on any available surface, complimented by a competitive version on sand aimed at increasing its global appeal. We now plan to bring AirBadminton closer to everyone through our global roll out.
bwfcorporate.com