The insidethegames.biz Winter Edition 2020

The insidethegames.biz Magazine The world’s leading source of independent news and information about the Olympic Movement.

Winter Edition 2020

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Contents

Published: December 2020 by Dunsar Media Company Limited

Introduction

Editor: Duncan Mackay

Hats in the ring

Magazine Editor: Dan Palmer Managing Director: Sarah Bowron Design: Elliot Willis Willis Design Associates Pictures: Getty Images Staff headshots: Karen Kodish Print: www.csfprint.com Dunsar Media Company Limited 500 Avebury Boulevard Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2BE. Great Britain +44 1908 540675 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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Duncan Mackay Duncan Mackay

AIBA's tale of the tape Philip Barker

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10 12

The election dilemma Liam Morgan

Sport in a bubble Mike Rowbottom

Asian fusion Philip Barker

The case for Doha Jassim Albuenain

The case for Riyadh HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Alfaisal

2020 vision David Owen

Frosty forecast Dan Palmer

The rise of esports Mike Rowbottom

Proceed with caution Mike Rowbottom

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Š and Database Right 2020 Dunsar Media Company Limited All rights reserved.

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68 STRONG NATIONS

AND GROWING AT THE

SPEED OF LACROSSE

During an unprecedented year, the membership of World Lacrosse has been inspired by the actions and examples of the international sport community as, collectively, we work to secure a safe return to sport.

THROUGH IT ALL, DURING THE LAST YEAR, WORLD LACROSSE HAS: • Welcomed 6 new member-National Governing Bodies, bringing our membership to 68 NGBs and 3 Continental Federations • Provided record levels of Sport Development and Operational Relief funding to our members • Experienced growth in followers across our social media platforms of more than 250% • Introduced a comprehensive offering of online instructional tools and resources for our members As we look ahead to 2021, World Lacrosse extends our very best wishes to our colleagues and friends in sport for a safe and successful Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Discover why we’re excited about lacrosse’s future at worldlacrosse.sport

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DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

T

o say that 2020 has been a difficult year in the world of sport would be something of an understatement.

Nobody could have forecasted how fundamentally different our lives are now compared to January, when we were all looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Games, of course, did not take place and question marks still hang over the rearranged dates next year as COVID-19 continues to leave its mark.

When 2020 finally ebbs away, we will all be crossing our fingers that better times lie ahead.

This is particularly true for the International Boxing Association, which has been stuck in a prolonged period of crisis and desperately needs a fresh start.

If Tokyo 2020 does go ahead as planned in 2021, AIBA will have no involvement in the boxing tournament after being stripped of that right by the International Olympic Committee.

The organisation has faced welldocumented problems with its governance, finances, refereeing and judging and seems to lurch from scandal to scandal.

It has not helped that AIBA has been without a permanent leader since March 2019, when Morocco’s Mohamed Moustahsane was elected as interim President in place of Gafur Rakhimov.

There has been nobody in charge of a ship that is in dire need of a steady pair of hands, but in December that is all due to change.

Seven contenders have put themselves forward for a Presidential election which will have huge repercussions for boxing and its place on the Olympic programme.

Whoever is elected – and you would be entitled to ask why anyone would want the

job – will have the mammoth task of repairing AIBA’s relationship with the IOC and restoring the reputation of a proud Olympic sport.

It is a race which has already produced more than its fair share of intrigue, with the American Presidential election having a rival when it comes to creating drama.

In this magazine, I assess the runners and riders and look back at how AIBA and boxing have been left on the ropes.

Boxing is a sport which has provided no shortage of household names and many of them have shone on the Olympic stage before dominating the professional ranks.

Think Muhammad Ali at Rome 1960, Sugar Ray Leonard at Montreal 1976 or even Nicola Adams, the first women’s Olympic boxing champion at London 2012.

Philip Barker goes back in time to take us through the history of AIBA, an organisation often entwined with some of the greats of the fight game but one which is never far from controversy.

In these times of coronavirus restrictions, the AIBA Presidential election will take place virtually with an in-person meeting impossible.

A number of sports were due to hold votes in 2020, but not all have gone down the route of an online ballot.

Some have instead opted to “delay democracy” by pushing their votes into 2021, extending the terms of their Presidents in the process.

Chief senior reporter Liam Morgan explores an issue which has proven to be a complex side effect of the global health crisis.

The end of the year also means a much referenced document will soon be out of date.

Olympic Agenda 2020 was unveiled in 2014 as the IOC’s blueprint for the future. Since then it has popped up in numerous speeches and press releases, but what difference has the package of reforms actually made?

Chief columnist David Owen gives his assessment on a vision which has become a defining part of Thomas Bach’s IOC Presidency.

In December we should also find out which city will host the 2030 edition of the Asian Games.

The two contenders – Doha and Riyadh – are locked in a hard-fought battle which has the extra fizz of the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

We have asked both bids to explain why the Olympic Council of Asia should be picking their city for the event in 2030.

The Asian Games is, of course, one of sport’s mega events and next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the inaugural edition in New Delhi.

Philip Barker looks back at some of the highlights of the Games which have often been unable to escape the political atmosphere of the time.

In February, the one-year-to-go milestone before the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be celebrated. The postponement of Tokyo 2020 means there will be just six months between the two Games, a short timeframe which could be seen as a burden or an opportunity.

Dan Palmer looks ahead to the event in China and finds that, although the IOC is pleased with how preparations are going, difficult questions about Chinese policy will be impossible to avoid.

It is too early to say if Beijing 2022 will be scaled down in the same way that Tokyo 2020 will be.

Sporting events have been returning with increased frequency but they feel very different from before with many taking place inside COVID-proof “bubbles”.

Chief feature writer Mike Rowbottom looks at this “new normal” and how sport has needed to adapt to these challenging times.

Mike has also delved into the topic of esports, a booming business which has thrived during times of lockdown and is making its presence felt in Olympic circles.

Everyone at insidethegames wishes you well as we approach the end of 2020, and we hope to see you soon. Enjoy the magazine.

Duncan Mackay Editor

We hope to see you again soon www.facebook.com/insidethegames

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Seven candidates have entered the race to become the new President of the International Boxing Association, a prize perhaps comparable to a poisoned chalice rather than a world heavyweight title. Duncan Mackay runs the rule over an organisation on the ropes.

I

t was in Montreux in December 2016 that the first rumblings of a major controversy in boxing began to brew.

The great and good of the International Boxing Association had gathered in the beautiful Swiss town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the organisation.

According to the New York Times, a study undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers could not account for almost half of a $10 million loan allocated to AIBA in 2010 by the Baku-based Benkons MMC conglomerate.

Ching-kuo Wu, head of the organisation since 2006, blamed AIBA’s former executive director, South Korean Ho Kim, who he claimed had control over the account the money was paid into.

AIBA’s Executive Board, though, appeared to rally behind Wu. “During the last 10 years we have believed in the President and his integrity, and anything that may damage the institution of AIBA we must face together,” Franco Falcinelli, President of the European Boxing Confederation and vice-president of the AIBA Executive Committee, said.

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“We will continue to help our President and to work as one for the good of boxing.”

But even as the Executive Committee members were clinking champagne glasses with their special guest, former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, and standing up to applaud Wu as they awarded him a special prize to mark 10 years in charge of AIBA, they were plotting.

Wu was forced out of office in November 2017 amid reports of runaway spending and mounting debts following a bitter power struggle which briefly caused staff to be locked out of AIBA’s own headquarters. Concerned by the infighting and opaque finances, the International Olympic Committee stopped payments to AIBA, worsening its financial crisis.

Falcinelli briefly stepped in as interim President before being replaced in January 2018 by Uzbekistan’s Gafur Rakhimov. This immediately set off alarm bells at the IOC, concerned about sanctions imposed by the United States Treasury over his alleged ties to heroin trafficking – claims he denied.

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DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

Rakhimov’s permanent election as President later that year accelerated a process which saw the IOC in June 2019 strip AIBA of its right to organise the Olympic boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020.

Morocco’s Mohamed Moustahsane has been filling in as interim President since Rakhimov stepped aside in March 2019.

Under AIBA’s own statutes he should have been replaced eight months ago but the organisation has been unable to hold an election due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It is now due to hold a virtual Congress on December 12 and 13 where a successor will finally be chosen and tasked with the job of restoring AIBA’s fortunes.

It has been assumed for most of the last year that Moustahsane, a medical doctor, had no interest in assuming the role on a permanent basis. But at the last minute he announced he was standing – a decision he took without telling his fellow AIBA Executive Committee members.

He was the seventh candidate in a crowded field.

Dutch Boxing Federation head Boris van der Vorst, Asian Boxing Confederation President Anas Al Otaiba from the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan's AIBA Executive Committee member Suleyman Mikayilov, Russian Boxing Federation secretary general Umar Kremlev, honorary AIBA vice-president Domingo Solano of the Dominican Republic and German referee Ramie Al-Masri have also all announced they are standing.

Having held the position for so long, Moustahsane should have an advantage and he claimed he decided to stand because of the “overwhelming support of many NFs (National Federations) who asked me to throw my hat into the ring. I simply had to follow their call.”

He would certainly be seen by the IOC as a “safer” pair of hands than some of the other candidates, even though he faced calls for his resignation in May 2019 after he was implicated in their damning report.

Moustahsane was chairman of the Draw Commission for the boxing tournament at Rio 2016, an event marred by a corruption scandal which prompted AIBA to suspend all 36 referees and judges who officiated at the Olympics.

Before announcing he would stand, Kremlev claimed “more than 50 countries” had asked him to. Ukraine, doubling down on their support, Serbia, Colombia, Paraguay and the Solomon Islands even issued a joint press statement in which they claimed the www.facebook.com/insidethegames

four candidates who had declared themselves at that point were seen as "tainted, weak, or lacking a vision".

Kremlev’s campaign launch certainly packed the biggest punch. While news of the other candidates has leaked out via letters they had written to National Federations, Kremlev’s was a stage-managed event in a Moscow television studio streamed around the world.

The EUBC vice-president and AIBA Executive Committee member promised he would be able to pay off AIBA's significant debt by helping them raise $50 million in sponsorship money.

“I will ensure that AIBA will no longer be burdened by debt,” Kremlev told the audience.

“Within one or two years, AIBA will attract $50 million in sponsorship. All this money will go towards the development of AIBA.” Kremlev was at pains to emphasise this money would be raised through corporate sponsorship, hoping it will assuage the fears of the IOC, which had expressed concerns when he had offered personally to wipe out AIBA’s $16 million debt.

Like a heavyweight before a world title fight, Kremlev has not been afraid to indulge in a bit of early trash talking.

“I wanted to see who will stand as a candidate to become the head of AIBA,” Kremlev said during his press launch. “I wanted to judge if they will be able to save AIBA, to bring it to a high level again, I wanted to see if they are going to be serious candidates or not.

Unfortunately, I could not see anybody who would be able to do this task.”

Solano, a former vice-president of AIBA, was quickly embroiled in an embarrassing scandal when it emerged the Dominican Republic Boxing Federation had attempted

Umar Kremlev's campaign launch was the most extravagant.

Photo: RBF

to pay the membership fees of nine countries so they could vote at the Congress.

As the complaint to the AIBA Disciplinary and Ethics Commissions was filed by Osvaldo Bisbal, President of the Americas Boxing Confederation, it is fair to assume Solano will not even have the backing of his own continent.

He cited his 32 years of experience at AIBA among the reasons why he believes he is a suitable candidate.

Solano, though, has links to the most unsavoury incident in AIBA’s history – which is saying something for an organisation whose 75-year existence is littered with sordid moments.

He was President of the Dominican Amateur Boxing Federation when the country hosted the AIBA Congress in 2006, where Malian delegate Pierre Diakite was found dead in a hotel lift shaft.

Diakite was said to oppose former AIBA President Anwar Chowdhry, who was finally ousted by Wu after 16 years in charge following a bitter election campaign. The police launched an investigation, but no-one was ever charged.

AIBA has a long road ahead as it bids to rise from the canvas. Photo: Getty Images

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DUNCAN MACKAY EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES The candidature of Van der Vorst was one of the most unexpected and he has the advantage of not having links to the former regimes of Wu and Rakhimov, making him attractive to the IOC. In his letter, entitled “A Clean Break for World Boxing”, the Dutchman claimed a “complete change of leadership, financial management and culture within our sport” is required in order for the IOC to lift its suspension of AIBA. “To put it in boxing terms, AIBA has had several eight counts, spent much of the bout on the ropes with only one round remaining to turn things around to accomplish victory,” he wrote with a neat turn of phrase.

"For far too long, we have been told that our leadership is working extremely hard to resolve these issues, that reforms are on the way and that AIBA’s debts will soon disappear.

“It is time for a complete change of leadership, financial management and culture within our sport.

“Those responsible for the current situation cannot lead AIBA back into the family of trusted International Federations.

“Unless we intend to continue the bout with the same tactical plan that got us knocked down in the previous rounds.”

But Van der Vorst is a middleweight in a field of heavyweights and lacks a powerbase.

It will be a surprise if he makes the final bout.

The other serious candidates would appear to be Al Otaiba and Mikayilov.

The 44-year-old Al Otaiba, like Moustahsane and Kremlev, claimed he had decided to stand “after vigorous consultations with a lot of National Federations from all over the world”.

AIBA has struggled to distance itself from the controversial reign of Gafur Rakhimov. Photo: Getty Images

The Emirati, a former member of the Tawazun Economic Council responsible for the creation and development of a sustainable defence and security industry in the UAE, is an AIBA vice-president and among its most senior officials.

“We need to work harder, smarter and with agility by seizing the last opportunity of AIBA's rebirth provided by the International Olympic Committee,” he has told National Federations.

But, like Mikayilov, Al Otaiba is perceived as having close links to Rakhimov, which could be damaging in a campaign where the Uzbek haunts AIBA like Marley’s ghost in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Even a simple inquiry to Mikayilov from insidethegames, asking about his past, was swiftly met with a letter threatening legal action. “I have been a well-respected

Interim AIBA President Mohamed Moustahsane surprised everyone by announcing he would stand. Photo: Getty Images

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Government Minister since 1997 and I am ready to share with you official letters from the President of my country endorsing my candidacy for the upcoming elections,” the Azeri wrote.

In a bid to prove his credibility, Mikayilov has appointed British company Global Sports Investigations to run his campaign. GSI is part of a consortium which includes Britain’s former Sports Minister Richard Caborn and Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

“Since the 2018 Congress, AIBA embarked on a course of self-destruction and the IOC suspension in June 2019 came as a perfect storm to sweep away our pride and to only leave an unforgettable embarrassment,” Mikayilov said.

“During this suspension period, so many different opinions and voices have been heard offering to take our ship safely to port.

However, and most unfortunately, we are still divided, and common goals have not been properly drawn up so that we can regain our pride under strong leadership.”

Al-Masri declared shortly before the deadline closed and also hopes the fact he has no links to previous administrations will give him an advantage, although he is largely unknown.

The information technology entrepreneur, who is originally from Palestine and claims to speak six languages, is the chairman of the Referees' Commission at the German Boxing Association.

Whoever is elected will need to invest a lot of time and energy to convince the IOC that AIBA are an organisation they can trust and do business with again in the future.

To use boxing parlance, AIBA is on the canvas and the IOC has reached the count of nine.

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S ’ A B I A TALE OF

THE TAPE

The International Boxing Association is trapped in a period of crisis but it has rarely been plain sailing for the troubled organisation. Philip Barker takes a walk through history from the opening bell to the present day.

S

eventy-five years ago, peace had returned to most of the world after the long years of war.

As sport resumed, officials from 21 nations gathered in London at a difficult time for amateur boxing.

The meeting was chaired by James Montague Wyatt, a distinguished surgeon who led England’s Amateur Boxing Association.

“We felt there was some connection between the old Federation Internationale de Boxe and the war and that a new international governing body should be formed,” he said.

FIBA, as the sport’s world governing body was first known, had been established in 1920. Oscar Söderlund had become its President, succeeding John H. Douglas, a British boxing judge at the 1908 Olympics who drowned in a shipping tragedy in Scandinavia in 1930.

In London, Söderlund’s war time stewardship came under fire from Norwegian official Axel Proet Høst.

The Olympic newsletter records that Söderlund, from neutral Sweden, met delegates from Axis nations at a FIBA Congress in Rome while European Championships continued during the war years. Proet Høst was unhappy at this contact with the Nazis.

Swiss delegate Henri Margueron suggested: “It was better to build up a new house than to patch up a badly damaged one.”

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Söderlund resigned and a new organisation, the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur, or AIBA, was born.

French official Emile Grémaux was elected President. Lieutenant Colonel Rudyard Russell of Britain became secretary, and then later President after Grémaux died in 1959.

At the 1948 Olympics in London, Hungarian middleweight László Papp won gold. It was the start of a legendary career. His coach, Bela Keri, jumped fully clothed into the adjacent swimming pool in celebration.

Papp also won light middleweight golds in 1952 and 1956 and was the first to win three successive Olympic titles.

In 1960, Muhammad Ali, still known as Cassius Clay, beat Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland to win light heavyweight gold in Rome. He remains the most celebrated of all Olympic boxing champions.

As a professional, Ali fought Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Leon Spinks, all Olympic champions themselves.

They forged a path later trodden by Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko and Britain’s Anthony Joshua.

At the lighter weights, “Sugar” Ray Leonard is still revered as one of the finest pound-for-pound boxers of all time. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he was light welterweight champion.

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PHILIP BARKER HISTORIAN, INSIDETHEGAMES Although European Championships had been established in the 1920s and boxing was included in the Pan American, Asian and African Games, there was no global amateur tournament until 1974.

By now AIBA boasted 120 member nations and had staged a Congress in Tanzania, the first held on African soil.

Havana was elected ahead of Montreal to host the inaugural World Amateur Championships.

“All countries will be able to take part,” AIBA said. “Eliminating rounds may or may not be organised according to the number of boxers entered.”

Nicola Adams became the first Olympic champion in women’s boxing in 2012. Photo: Getty Images

The mighty Cuban Teófilio Stevenson won heavyweight gold on home turf, and later added two further world titles to his three Olympic gold medals. Fellow countryman Félix Savón later eclipsed this with six world amateur titles.

At the 1982 World Championships, future Olympic champion “Sweet Pea” Pernell Whitaker lost to another Cuban, defending lightweight champion Ángel Herrera, but later enjoyed an illustrious professional career.

The World Championships in the first 25 years were exclusively male but, in 1994, AIBA recognised women’s boxing.

In 2001, the first Women’s World Championships were held in Scranton, Pennsylvania. India’s Mary Kom won flyweight silver as a prelude to an unequalled six world golds.

Then came the Olympic green light for women’s boxing at London 2012. British fighter Nicola Adams beat Kom in the flyweight semi-final and then Chinese boxer Ren Cancan to win the first Olympic title.

When Ireland’s Katie Taylor won lightweight gold, the noise in the arena exceeded 120 decibels.

By this time, AIBA President CK Wu of Chinese Taipei had launched a new “World Series of Boxing” event which allowed boxers to compete professionally without jeopardising their eligibility for the Olympics.

A later attempt to allow professionals to mingle with amateurs at Rio 2016 was largely criticised and failed to attract any big names. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

In Rio, the sport’s governing body soon fell under a familiar cloud – the standard of officiating which has often caused complaints.

In 1948, dissatisfaction was so widespread that AIBA issued a statement.

“Affiliated associations were urged only to nominate officers who possessed the necessary standard of refereeing and judging suitable for the Olympic Games,” it read. “Unfortunately this direction was not in most cases complied with.”

Four years later, AIBA President Grémaux admitted “certain difficulties arose at the Games in Helsinki”.

“It is the existence of different styles that brings about such difficulties,” he claimed. “A certain boxer who is appreciated by a certain judge will not find favour with another who has a different conception of boxing.”

After the Rome 1960 Olympics, some boxing officials were suspended after protests.

International Olympic Committee member Armand Massard had proposed that officials should swear an oath of impartiality, a move eventually introduced but one which had no effect at the Seoul 1988 Games.

Many believe the Koreans were upset after only winning a single gold at Los Angeles 1984, when middleweight Shin Joon-sup beat American Virgil Hill on a split verdict. Few decisions went against American boxers at their home Games, and Korean resentment simmered until Seoul.

American Don Hull had been AIBA President for the preceding decade, but was succeeded by Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan and had even been suspended.

At the Seoul Olympics, home favourite Byun Jung-il was twice docked points in a second round bantamweight contest by

referee Keith Walker, a New Zealander.

Bulgaria’s Aleksandar Khristov was given the verdict and pandemonium followed as officials and security guards jumped into the ring to attack Walker, who later fled the country fearing for his life. Byun staged a 67-minute sit down protest in the ring.

Later in the Games, American light middleweight Roy Jones Jr. fought Korean Park Si-hun for gold. Jones landed three times as many punches, but Park was given a 3-2 verdict. Jones received the Val Barker trophy as most stylish boxer, but although investigations suspended five judges, no results were changed.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, East German secret police documents appeared to show that money had been paid to some judges in Seoul.

A new electronic scoring system was introduced after 1988, but problems did not go away.

At Rio 2016, Ireland’s world bantamweight champion Michael Conlan reacted furiously after a quarter-final points defeat at the hands of Russian Vladimir Nikitin. Other questionable decisions prompted a further investigation.

No results were altered, but 36 officials from Rio 2016 were eventually suspended. Wu was deposed as President and eventually replaced

by Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov.

Many were uncomfortable. After an IOC investigation, they announced the suspension of AIBA because of problems “with finance, governance, ethics, refereeing and judging”.

If the Tokyo Olympics do go ahead, boxing officials will be chosen at random by an independent panel and the round-by-round scoring displayed on screens in the arena. The competition will not be administered by AIBA.

Muhammad Ali, then still known as Cassius Clay, won gold at Rome 1960 and remains the most iconic Olympic champion in boxing.

Photo: Getty Images

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The

Election

Dilemma The global health crisis has prompted some sports to delay democracy and postpone their Presidential elections. Others have moved crucial meetings online. Liam Morgan debates a complex side effect of the pandemic.

I

nternational Federations have had a lot on their plate after the coronavirus pandemic decimated their calendars and ground sport across the world to a halt.

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Not only have numerous Federations been forced to reshuffle events and contemplate an uncertain financial future because of the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but the COVID-19 crisis has had a considerable impact on their governance.

Travel restrictions and bans on mass gatherings have made holding in-person meetings virtually impossible for the best part of this year, forcing Federations to either move crucial elections online or postpone until a later date.

Over a third of IFs have been tackling this coronavirus-related problem as 2020 is election year for 13 Olympic Federations – 10 summer and three winter.

Democracy has been delayed by nine Federations which have opted to push their elections back to 2021, leading to the added

consequence of extending the terms of their respective Presidents.

It leaves only four – the International Boxing Association, World Rugby, World Sailing and World Triathlon – to have gone down the virtual election route.

This discrepancy has raised eyebrows, especially among those within organisations that have decided to postpone their elections and have since seen others manage to hold successful virtual votes. “If they can do it, why can’t we?” has been a pertinent question.

Money is perhaps one of the main reasons.

To hold a remote election requires the oversight of an auditing or accounting firm, which are far from cheap, and not everyone can afford one.

Plenty are hoping the global health crisis will have eased sufficiently enough to have

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LIAM MORGAN CHIEF SENIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Quanhai Li replaced Kim Andersen as President after World Sailing held their election online. Photo: World Sailing

in-person meetings at some point next year, but it seems unlikely large gatherings of sporting officials – a considerable amount of whom fall into the more vulnerable age bracket – will be permitted anytime soon, given how the dreaded second wave of COVID-19 has so far proven to be as disruptive as first feared.

With that bleak prospect in mind, Federations which have not already done so may be forced into holding their elections virtually anyway, prompting valid questions as to why they decided against it in the first place.

Pushing back elections is an expected consequence of the pandemic and allows for some form of stability at a time of huge uncertainty. Instead of focusing on an election campaign, a President can dedicate all of his or her time to guiding their organisation through the crisis, which is likely to impact sport for years to come.

But others argue citing force majeure is an all too convenient way for the incumbent to retain power for a little while longer.

In the case of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the International Luge Federation and the International Ski Federation, this prevents them from entering a new era.

The Presidents of the IIHF, FIL and FIS have been in their positions for a combined total of 76 years and postponing the elections delays what some within those organisations believe is a desperately needed refresh of personnel and governance.

The Federations which have gone against the grain have also seen the benefits of remote elections. World Sailing, for example, enjoyed a record turnout in the first round of its Presidential vote, with 127 Member National Authorities casting their choice by email – a figure that was surpassed by one in the second-round run-off.

Financial constraints often prevent smaller countries, which have the same voting power as their more elite counterparts, from www.facebook.com/insidethegames

attending in-person elections. That obstacle has been removed by staging them remotely, and few would argue the governance at these organisations is not better for it.

On the other hand, it is difficult to campaign when you cannot physically meet, greet and sway the electorate, which plays into the hands of the incumbent.

Such is the prominence of platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams that some have suggested every meeting should be held via video, but others rightly point out how virtual gatherings are no substitute for the real thing.

Four candidates – incumbent Kim Andersen, vice-presidents Quanhai Li of China and Uruguay’s Scott Perry, and Spaniard Gerardo Seeliger – made the start line in the World Sailing election, overseen

by KPMG. That list was whittled down to two after Perry and Seeliger were eliminated after the first round of e-mail voting, which followed a bitter week full of accusations, counterclaims and an intervention from the International Olympic Committee.

Li eventually defeated Andersen thanks to a 68 votes to 60 victory in the run-off,

The delay to the International Ski Federation vote extends the lengthy reign of Gian-Franco Kasper, who has been in office since 1998. Photo: Getty Images

Of course, holding an election by any means necessary is more important for some than others.

World Sailing, for example, had to have its election this year under its constitution, while the likes of United World Wrestling and the International Fencing Federation have Presidents – respectively Nenad Lalovic and Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov – who are set to be re-elected unopposed. A rubber-stamping exercise masked as a vote will be all that is needed.

However, all four governing bodies which have scheduled virtual or online elections have either had, or will have, a contested vote, somewhat of a rarity for IFs in a world which favours soft autocracy over healthy democracy. @insidethegames

announced during World Sailing’s virtual Annual General Meeting on November 1.

Andersen – who faced three ethics cases in the build-up to the election, which led to the IOC warning of the impact his re-election might have on the organisation’s reputation – is the second consecutive World Sailing President to be unseated, after he himself ousted Italy’s Carlo Croce in 2016 by a similarly tight margin of six votes.

World Triathlon President Marisol Casado will be hoping for a better outcome when she faces a challenger in Mads Freund, the head of Triathlon Denmark who announced his bid for the top job in August.

Casado, a member of the IOC, is aiming to hold on to a role she has occupied since 2008, with Freund considered the outsider in an

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LIAM MORGAN CHIEF SENIOR REPORTER, INSIDETHEGAMES

intriguing two-horse race.

The Spaniard will almost certainly have the behind-thescenes backing of the IOC, which is known for protecting its own unless they defy the leadership, while the fact she remains the only female head of a Summer Olympic Federation may also count in her favour.

World Triathlon had initially announced plans for a hybrid Congress in Paris on November 29, with some attending in person and others joining remotely.

But the worldwide body instead decided to hold the meeting, scheduled for the same date, virtually amid a concerning rise in the number of COVID-19 infections across Europe.

At AIBA, there is set to be seven officials vying to take over the running of the embattled organisation, including current interim President Mohamed Moustahsane. He will face Asian Boxing Confederation President Anas Al Otaiba, Azerbaijani Executive Committee member Suleyman Mikayilov, Russian Boxing Federation secretary general Umar Kremlev, AIBA's honorary vice-president Domingo Solano, Dutch Boxing Federation head Boris Van der Vorst and German referee Ramie Al-Masri.

After what felt like months of toing and froing, dithering and stalling, AIBA finally confirmed

Nenad Lalovic will be returned unopposed as United World Wrestling President, but Marisol Casado faces an online ballot at World Triathlon. Photo: Getty Images

in October that its election would take place virtually on December 12 and 13. The winner will become the troubled federation’s first permanent President in 18 months and will be tasked with restoring its status with the IOC, after it was suspended as the Olympic governing body for the sport in June 2019.

The seven candidates threw their hat into the ring before the November 2 deadline, but it is possible not all will be on the ballot come election time.

World Rugby has proven to be a pioneer in this field after it became the first Olympic governing body to have a remote election in April, where Sir Bill

Bill Beaumont won another term as World Rugby chairman following a virtual election. Photo: Getty Images

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Beaumont secured a second term following a convincing victory in his battle for the chairmanship with Argentina’s Agustín Pichot.

In hindsight, it is somewhat surprising that only three Federations have followed suit.

The IOC told insidethegames earlier this year it was advising IFs – and National Olympic Committees – facing an election dilemma on a case-by-case basis and, initially, that appeared a sensible idea given the differences in how each organisation operates. However, it was an idea which also threw up several questions.

On further reflection, could the IOC, or perhaps the umbrella bodies for Summer and Winter Olympic IFs, have spearheaded a unanimous approach from Federations tackling this coronavirus-enforced issue?

Association of Summer Olympic International Federations executive director Andrew Ryan believes this would not have been possible. “I would explain the disparity between the number of federations who have had virtual annual meetings and electronic voting for elections and those who have postponed until 2021 by

@insidethegames

mentioning a number of points regarding their individual situations,” he said.

“As you would expect with autonomous bodies, within their statutes or constitutions, they may have very different ways of handling congresses, annual meetings etc.

“Firstly some will have had rules in place describing how they should handle extraordinary situations like under COVID-19 but others will not.

“Secondly, those based in Switzerland and which are Associations under Swiss law (such as ASOIF) could make use of a federal law exception which allows them to hold General Assemblies virtually and voting electronically within certain conditions if they had no provision themselves.

“Those registered outside Switzerland would have to use any legal provisions of the country they are based in and work according to their statutes.

“Given that, it would therefore not have been possible to support a one size fits all approach but, instead, it must be up to each individual federation to work according to national law and its own statutory regulations.”

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15

Sport in a

bubble

The coronavirus crisis has forced everybody to adjust and sport is now facing up to a “new normal”.

Mike Rowbottom learns that big changes are needed if the competitions we know and love are to go ahead safely.

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ever before have international and national sports federations had to be so flexible, ingenious and open to change as they have been during the coronavirus pandemic.

Five months ago I wrote a piece for insidethegames on the likely shape of sport’s “new normal” as IFs strived to stage events in a form as close to traditional models as possible.

Several likely areas of development suggested

Europe's major football leagues resumed in empty stadiums. Photo: Getty Images

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This year's London Marathon took place in a safe "bubble" environment. Photo: Getty Images

themselves as sportsmen and women around the world worked to maintain some kind of momentum under the new and restrictive threat looming over them, like the horizondarkening spaceships in Independence Day. Athletes and federations such as World Rowing and the International Judo Federation were already liaising to develop new forms of training during lockdown, and making full use of online technology.

New forms of competition were also springing up. For example, the International Modern Pentathlon Union launched the first UIPM #LaserHomeRun and more than 600 competitors registered within three days.

World Athletics also created the technological links which enabled virtual competitions. Athletes competed individually, but at the same time as their rivals and linked by video.

The first of three self-styled “Ultimate Garden Clash” events, involving men’s pole vaulters Mondo Duplantis, Renaud Lavillenie and Sam Kendricks in their own back yards, attracted more than 250,000 live viewers globally. More than one million people had watched the broadcast around the world within 24 hours of it taking place.

As Bundesliga football matches were already demonstrating, top-class competition had to take place in stadiums that were empty, or nearly so, albeit with the optional addition of recorded crowd noise for television viewers. England’s Premier League was soon following suit.

For all competitions, social distancing was the new glue. But while events organised by the International Cycling Union or World Athletics could largely maintain safe personal margins, no such option was available for combat disciplines or sports such as rugby and football.

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Footballers were instructed not to celebrate or commiserate in close physical contact, while bowlers in cricket and pitchers in baseball were banned from using their saliva to impart extra swing on their deliveries.

The necessary concomitant of activity, particularly activity involving scrimmages or penalty area mêlées, was a serious COVID-19 testing regime for all participants.

It seemed likely that there would, in most sports, be fewer competitions. But, by that fact, the competitions would be more valuable.

Meanwhile, it was clearly evident that the pandemic would drastically reduce levels of international or even national travel for sportsmen and women, and indeed sporting administrators.

Olympic marketing expert Michael Payne told insidethegames: "The days of dozens of federation members flying around the world are over. Video conferencing will drive all future commission meetings for IFs, with gathering in person held only once a year, around a World Championships or annual assembly.

"This will represent a dramatic cost saving for all IFs. Many sports leaders probably already wanted to move in this direction but it would not have been 'politically' welcomed by the rank and file.

"COVID-19 gives leaders the opportunity to make this change." www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Jon Tibbs, founder of the international relations and communications agency JTA, added: "We are all hypothesising here. No-one knows how it’s going to pan out. But I do know the sports industry will have to go and consult way outside its normal pond to get plans for the future.

"It needs to consult with not just futurologists but behavioural psychologists and all sorts of experts, and scientific advisers as well, because a lot of the venues in future, if you plan it right, can be pandemic-resistant.

"It’s going to be about evaluating the experience people are going to want to have.

It’s going to take people ages to come back to some degree of trust in normality where you would happily rub shoulders with the person sitting on a seat next to you.

"If people are selling future plans on the notion of safety and a reasonable distance between seats instead of absolutely being rammed up against each other, then they will attract the nervous people quicker than older, traditional stadiums.

"You could have a plan where you can just strip seats out or block them off in the case of future pandemics. All the seating is already ready for social distancing.

"There are going to be some fundamental changes in the way entertainment and sports events are run in future."

That future is now. Nothing is certain in this perplexing new landscape, but all the features indicated above have become clearly and regularly evident within world sport in recent months as it has striven to establish the "new normal".

The strongest model that has established itself, mirroring Government social policy across many nations, has been that of the

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe paid tribute to the mental resilience of athletes. Photo: Getty Images

“bubble”, a controlled unit in which those who have tested negative for coronavirus, and who continue to do so, can maintain sporting activity in conditions that are as far as possible socially-distanced.

This year’s running of the London Marathon proved to be something of a paradigm of this model.

Athletes were tested regularly – before flying, after flying and at the specially secured “bubble” at their hotel. They were bussed in for their races on a closed, looped course, with the millions of interested parties following the action via eight hours of live BBC coverage.

On the eve of the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia in October, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe reflected upon a late-flowering season which produced a handful of world records.

"The fact that they have performed as strongly as they have is in large part down to their own mental resilience, but I think it’s helped that we have wherever possible tried to give them something to look forward to,” he said.

"That’s been tough and I pay tribute to the Diamond League, the Continental circuit, our meeting directors, our federations, our city partners and our own supply relations around the globe.

The International Ski Federation announced "health passports" for athletes before the start of the Alpine World Cup season in Sölden.

Photo: Getty Images

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"What is it that I think defines athletics in all this? It’s the fact that we have been brave.

We are not here to do anything other than to show the world that sport is managing to navigate its way through this in a careful and considered way."

As winter sports came to the fore, there were other signs of intelligent navigation.

The International Ski Federation announced it would introduce a "passport" detailing athletes' health data and COVID-19 test results.

The Alpine World Cup season, which began in the Austrian resort of Sölden on October 17, will not involve any races in North America to reduce travel, with more European dates planned.

Elsewhere, double races are scheduled at this year's International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup legs in Sigulda and Innsbruck, to minimise travel for athletes.

There will be no four-man bobsleigh until next year and only one member from each team will be allowed to collect their medal at a socially-distanced awards ceremony.

Athletes are urged not to shake hands or hug, and will be asked to keep two metres apart while wearing masks and gloves.

The International Skating Union has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, cancelling its World Championships in figure skating and short track and now witnessing disruption to the new Grand Prix of Figure Skating season.

It remains to be seen what effect the pandemic will have upon the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

But the largest sporting question still hangs over the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, postponed until next year. The Olympics are now scheduled from July 23 to August 8, with the Paralympics due to follow from August 24 to September 5.

In September, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshirō Mori claimed the Olympic and Paralympic Games would take place next year "no matter what happens".

A week before Mori’s comments, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach also appeared confident about Tokyo 2020, saying the successful staging of the UCI Road World Championships in Italy had given him "a lot of confidence".

He added: "It makes all of us very confident because we've seen in the last couple of months that you can have big sporting events in a safe environment, even without a vaccine."

Speaking to insidethegames on the eve of the one-year-to-go marker for the rescheduled Games, International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said the concept www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Big question marks still hang over the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Photo: Getty Images

that the event would stand or fall on a vaccine being available was "a little bit wrong".

He nevertheless added that the IPC was planning for scenarios in which the Games did and did not take place.

"I am positive about the possibility of having the Games next year," he said.

"I think that some of the sport events going on around the world at this moment like the UEFA Champions League, the NBA and other football leagues gives encouragement because we are also learning from that and what they are doing.

"Of course we know the difference in the size and magnitude of the events – in the Paralympics we have 4,350 athletes which is different from eight football teams in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in Portugal.

"It is unpredictable at this point in time.

But when people say 'we need a vaccine' – I think what we need is to say ‘we need to have the virus controlled, we need to have the pandemic under control’.

"Of course the vaccine will be the ultimate solution – or rather the vaccines, because you have multiple organisations trying to come up with them.

"But we may have scenarios where, because of the natural development of the pandemic, the numbers will go down.

"And when we take countermeasures we will be able to provide a safe environment for the athletes and everyone involved in the Games. @insidethegames

"So I think when people talk about the vaccine, yes, the vaccine is the strongest solution. But I think the concept is a little bit wrong.

"Some other measures can help in a scenario where we don't have as many cases around the world as we have now.

"We are planning for every possible scenario – when it comes to the Games, when it comes to what will happen with the Paralympic Movement in the case that we don't have the Games.

"So I am positive, but realistic."

A coronavirus countermeasures taskforce is currently assessing scenarios and policies that could allow Tokyo 2020 to go ahead.

Among the most recent ideas floated was supplying the Athletes’ Village with “health centre-like” isolation units for infected individuals.

Other measures proposed include daily checks of body temperature, increased ventilation and preventing congestion in areas such as dining halls.

A "general principle" could limit the range of athlete movement to facilities managed by Tokyo 2020, such as competition and training venues.

Athletes and officials will be encouraged to travel only via designated vehicles, although limited public transport use may be acceptable if unavoidable.

Suggestions also include reviewing the operation of medal ceremonies, while athletes could watch competitions from spectator seats.

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19

ASIAN FUSION

The Asian Games is the second largest multi-sport event on Earth. Philip Barker explores the history of the continental gathering which is approaching its 70th birthday.

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n 2022, the Asian Games are set to be held in a Chinese city explorer Marco Polo once called “the finest and most beautiful in the world”.

If all goes to plan in Hangzhou, Asian athletes will be in “the city of heaven” to celebrate the first 70 years of a gathering which has brought the vast continent together despite often turbulent times.

It was in 1951 that the first “Asiad” was held in New Delhi and it had been almost 40 years in the making.

The first Far Eastern Games had been held in Manila in 1913. Regional Games in both East and West Asia then developed in the inter-war years, but after the Second World

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War a continent-wide event took shape.

In 1947, an article appeared in the Times of India with the headline “India should sponsor the Asian Games”.

Indian official Guru Dutt Sondhi proposed Asian Championships in athletics and also “to create an Asian Games Federation on the model of the International Olympic Committee” in order to hold Asian Games.

A meeting took place during the 1948 Olympics in London and then, in February 1949, the first Asian Games Federation was formed.

New Delhi was chosen to stage the first Games in 1950 and Manila was designated as the 1954 host.

In the end, the first Asian Games took place a year later. India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru cut the ribbon to open the new stadium in New Delhi.

“In these days when dark clouds of conflict hover over us, we must seize every opportunity to promote understanding and cooperation between nations,” he said. In all, 489 competitors from 11 countries took part.

“The object we have undertaken is much bigger than a mere collection of sportsmen of

different countries,” said chief organiser Anthony de Mello. “It is an attempt at this vital juncture at maintaining peace in the world.”

A flame, lit at the historic Red Fort in old Delhi, was carried to the stadium where Brigadier Dalip Singh, a long jumper at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, lit the cauldron.

When the sport began, Indian sprinter Lavy Pinto won gold in both the 100 metres and 200m.

“Nobody caught the public imagination in the manner Lavy Pinto did,” said the Hindustan Times.

In the 1500m, India’s Nikka Singh surged to victory by “defying the physical confines of time and space as he literally burned up the cinder track”.

He sent the Times of India correspondent into raptures and, to set the seal on events, India beat Iran to win football gold.

IOC President Sigfrid Edström sent his congratulations. All his successors would make a point of visiting the Games.

For Japan, Delhi 1951 represented international rehabilitation. After the Second World War, they had been excluded from the 1948 Olympics.

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PHILIP BARKER HISTORIAN, INSIDETHEGAMES “A special cheer was reserved for the Japanese contingent,” said the Times of India. Their team of 83 was second only in size to the host nation.

Among many Japanese star performers was Toyoko Yoshino. She won gold in the shot, discus and javelin to complete a remarkable treble.

She won two further gold medals in 1954, by which time Tokyo was confirmed as host city for the third Asian Games in 1958.

Their main arena had been built with the Olympics in mind and was described in the New York Times as "one of the most beautiful and modern stadiums in the world". It had a capacity of 70,000 and the very latest electronic scoreboard.

Emperor Hirohito opened the Games. "I wish the success of the Games and on this occasion I expect earnestly that the goodwill and friendship amongst the member nations will be further enhanced,” he said.

For many Japanese, it was the first time they had heard their Emperor speak. Triple jumper Mikio Oda, Japan’s first Olympic champion from 1928, lit the cauldron.

Home competitors dominated, but as the Games ended Crown Prince Akihito told the crowd: "We have all been able to share in the fellowship and atmosphere of goodwill which is the result of the wholesome and sincere efforts of participating athletes from so many countries."

Long serving Hong Kong official Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales suggested “the standard of amateur sport in Asia would be very greatly stimulated by the selection of Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics”.

When IOC President Avery Brundage left Tokyo he had a message. “I am sure Japan is prepared to organise an even greater international event such as the Olympic Games,” the American said.

The following year, the IOC duly selected Tokyo as Olympic hosts for 1964.

In 1972, Sapporo became the first Asian hosts of the Winter Olympics and Japan soon suggested the establishment of a continental Games for winter sports.

The first Asian Winter Games were held in Sapporo in 1986. They hosted again in 1990 and also in 2017.

The Asian sport portfolio has since expanded with the Asian Beach Games, the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and the Asian Youth Games.

The flagship Asian Games have changed significantly over the last 30 years, embracing regional sports such as sepak takraw, kabaddi and wushu. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

The flagship Olympic Council of Asia event has grown into a huge spectacle. Photo: Getty Images

In 2006, when the Games were held in Doha, equestrian events included an endurance horse race held across Qatar’s desert sands. Organisers also mounted an unprecedented broadcast operation.

“Doha was the point when the Asian Games became a serious TV product,” said Games broadcast director Patrick Furlong.

By 2018, there were 40 sports and more than 11,000 competitors and Indonesia’s capital Jakarta shared hosting duties with Palembang.

A video sequence featuring Indonesian President Joko Widodo appeared to show him speeding through the city on a motorcycle, before he arrived in the stadium for the Opening Ceremony.

Badminton superstar Susi Susanti lit the cauldron in a stadium purpose built for the Asian Games – those of 1962.

Those Games had overcome many hurdles, not least a fire at the complex which set back construction.

They were generally considered a great success, although competition was blighted politically by the refusal to grant entry to Taiwan or Israel.

The 1966 host city, Bangkok, had one eye on the benefits that staging the Olympics had brought to Tokyo.

Among their construction projects was a huge indoor arena which is still in use today. @insidethegames

In fact, their venues proved to have a real Asian Games legacy value when the city was called into service as emergency hosts in 1970.

It happened again in 1978. The Games were originally awarded to Islamabad but after a military coup in Pakistan, Bangkok came to the rescue once more.

In 1998, the Asian Games were back in Bangkok for a record fourth time, this time after the Thai capital had actually bid.

The Games were now a “mega event”. No fewer than 42 nations took part with 376 medal events across 36 sports.

Curiously, the Games have mostly been held in East Asia, despite the headquarters of what is now known as the Olympic Council of Asia being in Kuwait.

The first Games to be held in West Asia came in 1974. No expense was spared in Tehran where an impressive complex was built.

The first Asian Games were held in New Delhi in 1951.

Photo: Getty Images

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North and South Korea have used the Asian Games to come together and march under a unified flag. Photo: Getty Images

Ali Parvin, arguably the greatest Iranian player, inspired his side to football gold in a highlight for the home nation.

It was also in 1974 that the People’s Republic of China first took part. They had sent a delegation to the very first Games in 1951, but only as guests and not competitors.

Representative Wu Haieuh Chien presented gifts to the other competing teams. “We feel very happy to be able to meet athletic friends at these first Asian Games,” he said. “We believe through this meeting our friendship will be strengthened.”

Yet, over the next quarter of a century, the “two Chinas” problem dogged the wider sports movement.

Taiwan insisted they should be called “Republic of China” and the dispute over naming rights proved a major obstacle.

An agreement to allow both Chinas to compete side-by-side was not reached until the late 1970s but, since then, Taiwan has been known as Chinese Taipei at the Olympic and Asian Games.

The People’s Republic made up for lost time as Beijing made a successful bid for the 1990 Asian Games.

Chinese newspapers called them “a gala meeting of unity friendship and progress”.

Even so, home athletes won no fewer than 183 gold medals.

Swimmer Shen Jianqiang was the most successful individual with a haul of five, all in Games record times. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Beijing 1990 was also notable for the participation of Chinese Taipei. The Beijing Review reported that when they entered at the Opening Ceremony, “the audience burst into applause and cheers”.

In softball, the two Chinas played against one another. A banner was draped in the stand with the message “come on players of both sides!”

It was also a time of rapprochement on the 38th parallel as both Koreas took part, but relations between the two have fluctuated throughout Asian Games history.

They were at war when the first Games took place in 1951. Seoul was then chosen as host city for 1970 but border tensions made it impossible and Bangkok stepped in.

The two Koreas did come face-to-face in the football final of 1978. Reports of the match said “both goals lived a charmed life”.

The match finished 0-0 after extra time and the gold medal was shared.

In 1981, Seoul was confirmed as the 1988 Olympic host city and little more than a month later was awarded the 1986 Asian Games.

The Games came under more scrutiny beyond Asia than ever before and IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch was among the honoured guests.

North Korea did not attend, however, and a bomb attack at Gimpo International Airport shortly before cast a shadow.

There were also widespread student protests against Seoul’s military leaders. Yet, in a sporting sense, the Games were hailed as @insidethegames

“a successful venture” which inspired confidence that the 1988 Olympics would succeed.

Organising chief Park Seh-jik told the crowd: “With the entry of Asia into the world arena and the meeting of nations on our soil, this is a great new age in which we all must share.

“We call upon the young people gathered here to explore the unlimited possibilities of our future.”

The summer Asian Games did not return to South Korea until 2002. But when they did, in the port city of Busan, the two Koreas marched under the peninsula flag at the Opening Ceremony before competing as separate teams.

In 2014, the Games returned to South Korea in Incheon. Each team carried their own national flag but North Korea were greeted by loud cheers as they entered.

They returned home with 11 gold medals with four of these coming in weightlifting.

Further impetus came in 2018. After a similar gesture at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korean basketball player Lim Yung-hui and North Korean footballer Ju Kyong-chol carried a unification flag at the opening in Jakarta.

North and South fielded combined teams in three sports and, in dragon boat, the unified women’s team took 500m gold.

Instead of the national anthem, the folk song Arirang, popular in both North and South Korea, was played. It was a precious symbol of sporting harmony.

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The case for

Doha

Doha 2030 secretary general Jassim Albuenain argues that the city’s bid is unique and unrivalled as Qatar aims to stage the Asian Games for the first time since 2006.

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wo months ago, we at the Doha 2030 Asian Games Bid Committee unveiled our bid slogan: Your Gateway.

To us, Your Gateway is actually much more than a slogan. It describes the position of Doha and Qatar now, it is where we already are and what we are ready to offer the Olympic Council of Asia family.

We are already a Gateway to the world as 80 per cent of the world’s population is within a six-hour flight of Doha’s Hamad International Airport. We are already a Gateway to diversity and inclusivity: Qatar is home to 94 different nationalities and welcomes people of all different background and beliefs.

But it also tells the world something of the unique and unrivalled potential of an Asian Games held in Doha in 2030.

Doha 2030 is a Gateway to certainty for the OCA and Asia. We are ready now. All of the facilities, all of the permanent venues that would be required to host an Asian Games already exist.

This is thanks to the legacy of the Doha 2006 Asian Games, and more than 500 other major international sports events, conferences and training camps that have been held in our country in the last 15 years.

The certainty we can provide is needed more than ever during these uncertain times. Now is not the time for high-risk bids, or major infrastructure projects. Now is the time to work together with the OCA and Asian NOCs to support our collective recovery.

All of the events we have hosted, from the World Athletics Championships and the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games in 2019, to the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and cycling’s 2016 Road

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World Championships, plus many nonOlympic sports events, mean we have also built vast experience and expertise.

By 2030 we shall, of course, have hosted many more events, notably the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and the World Aquatics Championships in 2023.

This experience and expertise ensures that Doha 2030 will be a Gateway to excellence.

We have shown we are reliable partners. Our state-of-the-art, tried and tested arenas, our world-class Games services and our minimal Games travel times of 20 to 30 minutes will ensure that the stars of our show, the athletes, will have the best possible opportunity to excel.

And this can all be delivered sustainably.

By utilising our existing and planned venues, reducing our carbon footprint, waste and water consumption, and establishing an equal working culture that promotes diversity, we can contribute a sustainable blueprint for future bids.

Since we don’t have to build anything, Doha 2030 would be a Gateway to a magical Games.

All of the energy, all of the time, all of the

investment that would normally be dedicated to construction, can be diverted to creating a magical and memorable Games for all.

From the world-class competitions through to the many beautiful beaches, world-class restaurants, shopping facilities and other cultural attractions, we would deliver unforgettable experiences for all Games participants and their families.

Just as importantly, it allows Doha 2030 to offer a Gateway to legacy now, in a way that has never been seen before.

We have the time and resources to work with NOCs at a time when it is most needed; to bring longer term benefits to Qatar and Asia. We will provide investment opportunities into athlete and NOC development. We will offer an unprecedented programme of training camps and youth programmes, that help facilitate cultural exchange, promote progress and inspire new generations of girls and boys to take up sport.

And we will provide lectures and workshops by leading Asian scientists and experts in all areas of sport development, ahead of the Games, that will deliver enduring legacy benefits for all NOCs. Qatar strongly believes in the power of sport to drive social change and foster peace and understanding. We want Doha 2030 to provide a platform that connects all nations and celebrates peaceful diversity.

The Games is about more than sport.

Holding the Games in Doha in 2030 would be the ultimate celebration of Asia and its wonderful diversity.

We believe that the Games in Doha would to be a Gateway to a stronger future for Asia, both before 2030, and in the future.

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The case for

Riyadh HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Alfaisal, President of the Riyadh 2030 Asian Games Bid Committee and the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, shares the city’s vision for a modern, diverse and transformative Asian Games.

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iyadh 2030 would be an Asian Games for all of Asia to be proud of and a celebration of sport that would leave an enduring legacy for the Olympic Council of Asia.

Hosting the first-ever Asian Games in Saudi Arabia is the dream of our nation. It is an opportunity to transform the future of Asia’s sporting landscape and inspire a new generation of athletes across the region.

Our bid promises a new model for the Asian Games – ultra-modern yet steeped in history, bold but responsible, visually stunning but environmentally-conscious. It would deliver a vibrant Games experience, whilst also being a driving force in the transformation of the city and Saudi society.

Our compact hosting plan spread across three zones – Qiddiya, Dammam and Diriyah’s Historical Zone – incorporates world-class venues and facilities wellconnected by an extensive, inter-connected transportation system.

With sustainability and financial responsibility embedded throughout, our plan maximizes existing venues alongside temporary and purpose-built arenas, all in front of visually-stunning, iconic backdrops.

The Asian Games is a festival of sport and Riyadh 2030 would enable the finest athletes from across the continent to shine.

Athletes’ needs are at the heart of our bid with spectacular, state-of-the-art facilities designed to ensure they have an incredible experience and can perform at their very best.

A fundamental part of this commitment is our new Athletes’ Commission which acts as a voice for the interests and opinions of athletes at the highest level of our decisionwww.facebook.com/insidethegames

making. We are proud to have Saudi Arabia’s first female Olympic medal winner, Dalma Malhas, as chair of the Commission.

The unique 10-year delivery phase of the 2030 Asian Games represents an unprecedented opportunity to work hand-inhand with the OCA, National Olympic Committees and International Federations to share the Games with the largest audience ever.

Sharing knowledge and fostering close connections with our fellow NOCs will allow Riyadh 2030 to engage and inspire a new generation of Olympic devotees and stimulate fresh interest in sport in the region and beyond.

We would use the organising phase to implement a programme of activity dedicated to fuelling a sporting culture and inspiring young people in Saudi Arabia and across Asia.

We are committed to collaborating with the OCA to ensure all member nations feel the benefits of Riyadh 2030 including capability building between NOCs. Driven by HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Vision 2030, and with total and unwavering political and public

@insidethegames

support, our bid for the Asian Games is the Saudi sports movement’s number one objective – it is our top sporting priority above all else and the dream of our entire nation.

When we say national priority, we mean it.

Riyadh 2030 has confirmed support throughout the private corporate world and sponsors will share the finest technology and transportation with athletes, administrators, officials and fans ensuring their time in Saudi is unforgettable.

Saudi Arabia is a passionate sporting nation and Riyadh a city of avid sports fans who love to attend events and fill stadia. We have never hosted the Asian Games – and this fuels our national desire to win for 2030.

A country with 35 million people as potential fans and ticket buyers, we stand ready to take the Asian Games to the next level.

We are committed to investing in all types of sporting endeavours to bring fans from across the world to experience our country first-hand.

Whether this is golf’s European Tour, football’s Spanish and Italian Super Cups, the Dakar Rally, Formula E, World Championship boxing, the country’s first-ever F1 race or Saudi’s first-ever Asian Games, we are dedicated to inspiring young people in Saudi Arabia and Asia to participate in and enjoy sport. And when it comes to delivery, we offer full and total certainty.

Riyadh 2030 would be a modern, diverse event in a truly unique and welcoming atmosphere. Hosting the 2030 Asian Games would drive long-lasting sporting, social and cultural change and transform the future of the region. It would open a new chapter for the OCA and be a bold step in the spectacular evolution of the Asian Games.

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2020 Olympic Agenda 2020 has been referenced frequently in recent times but the impending end of the year will leave the IOC document out of date. David Owen asks if the blueprint for the future has been a success.

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The IOC's Olympic Agenda 2020 outlined its plans for the future. Photo: Getty Images

S

ix years ago – on November 18, 2014 – the International Olympic Committee unveiled its “vision for the future of the Olympic Movement”.

It was a lengthy vision – 100 pages – and its cover star was a rapt child gazing out at something beyond the spine of the document with the Olympic rings emblazoned on one cheek.

What, pray, was the name of this vision? Why, Olympic Agenda 2020. But of course.

In less than two months’ time as I sit here writing this, that year – 2020 – an annus horribilis for so many for reasons that have nothing to do with the Olympic Games – will finally be over. It seems an appropriate juncture at which to attempt an assessment of how the reform package, which includes the year in its oft-intoned title, has panned out.

One possible way of making such an assessment might be to ask whether said “vision” anticipated the main Olympic-related events of the intervening six years.

These would be the seemingly interminable Russian doping crisis, the decision to award hosting rights to two editions of the Summer Games – 2024 and 2028 – simultaneously and the terrifying spread of the pandemic

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DAVID OWEN CHIEF COLUMNIST, INSIDETHEGAMES that has forced the one-year postponement of Tokyo 2020. The answers, to my mind, are: 1. No. Though recommendation 15 (of 40) – “change the philosophy to protecting clean athletes” – did envisage an amendment to the Olympic Charter to read: “The IOC’s role is to protect clean athletes and the integrity of sport by leading the fight against doping, and by taking action against all forms of manipulation of competitions and related corruption”. I will leave you to judge how well it has since done this.

2. Not in as many words, although the first three recommendations did make it clear that – with the withdrawal of Oslo from the 2022 Winter Olympic race still fresh – substantial changes to Olympic bidding processes would be implemented.

3. No. To be fair, not even I would expect the IOC to have a potent enough crystal ball to see that little lot winging its way down the road towards us.

But the virtual irrelevance of Olympic Agenda 2020 to what the outside world would regard as the big Olympic-related developments of our times ought to tell us something: Olympic Agenda 2020, taken at face value, has been well and truly overtaken by events.

Even its most radical new measure – the launch of an Olympic Channel, as part of a drive to “keep Olympism alive 365 days a year” – may turn out ultimately to be too little, too late. After all, it has been thrown into an unforgiving and ever more fragmented media sector positively seething with paradigm-shifting change.

The warning signs were there from the very start. I remember we were already beginning to assemble in Monte Carlo for the 127th IOC Session at which members dutifully voted through the entire Agenda 2020 package, when allegations of widespread doping among Russian athletes were aired in a bombshell 60-minute programme broadcast by Germany’s ARD. To paraphrase that supposed old Chinese curse, the Olympic Movement has been living in interesting times throughout most of the six years since my Olympic Agenda 2020 backgrounder rolled off the presses. In such an era of fast-moving and relatively momentous events, there is almost inevitably a risk that the sort of new vision which Agenda 2020 purports to represent will be exposed almost at once as a needless distraction or not what the new circumstances require. www.facebook.com/insidethegames

Olympic Agenda 2020 did not forsee the double award of the 2024 and 2028 Games to Paris and Los Angeles. Photo: Getty Images

With the benefit of the journalist’s most important luxury – hindsight – the time for an Agenda 2020-esque reform package would have been the late noughties when, though the financial crisis had hit, Olympicland was still an island of serenity awash with cash.

The 2009 Olympic Congress in Copenhagen might have presented an ideal opportunity. But of course Thomas Bach was not IOC President then, and it is tough for any organisation to focus on change when times are good.

As we long-suffering trailers after the Olympic caravan know to our cost, Agenda 2020’s questionable relevance to the major issues on the crowded Olympic news beat has not deterred the IOC leadership from shoehorning frequent references into its many speeches and press releases.

Look, there it was again in late-October, in an item on the IOC website covering the first meeting of the Los Angeles 2028 Coordination Commission. Beneath the headline “LA28 building on Olympic Agenda 2020 to deliver innovative Games”, is a quotation from Bach asserting that “from its inception, the LA28 project has embedded the very essence of Olympic Agenda 2020 in all its strategic plans”.

While Agenda 2020 has done little to protect the IOC from the headwinds that have buffeted it almost incessantly during the past five or six years, it did, I think, help Bach to stamp his authority on the organisation he has led since September 2013.

It seems strange to recall today, given the near unfettered control the German @insidethegames

one-time fencer has established, but in his early days in the hot seat, he appeared to adopt a rather circumspect approach on most issues. Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC President from 1980 to 2001, had started his long reign in similar fashion prior to assuming complete control.

Perhaps, in Bach’s case, this was a consequence of getting elected with only just over half – 49 – of the 93 votes cast. As Richard Peterkin, then an IOC member from Saint Lucia, put it afterwards: “If you win with 49 votes, it probably means you need to continue to be inclusive.” Bach himself told members after the vote in Buenos Aires that he wanted to be “a President for all of you”.

It should be emphasised that even early in his Presidency, Bach was quite prepared to act swiftly and more or less in secret when he felt this was warranted. The prime example is the landmark deal with Comcast that handed Olympic broadcasting rights in the United States to NBCUniversal until 2032 for a cool $7.65 billion. “We kept it among the three of us” – meaning he and two senior IOC officials – Bach acknowledged once agreement had been sealed.

Agenda 2020, by contrast, was the product of a long process that was portrayed as phenomenally inclusive.

The Monaco Session at which the reforms were approved was first flagged at an IOC Executive Board “brainstorming” in Montreux almost a year earlier. This was said to be the start of a “dialogue promised by the President during his campaign for election”. As well as his own themes, “ideas and comments” were said to have been

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The Russian doping crisis has dominated the Agenda 2020 era. Photo: Getty Images

sought from the five other Presidential candidates, plus other IOC members and the “broader Olympic family”.

My Agenda 2020 backgrounder notes on the very first page that the IOC received 1,200 ideas generated by 270 contributions, and 43,500 emails from “various stakeholders from within the Olympic Movement”, as well as “organisations and individuals from civil society”.

For all that, one came to feel that the leadership was pretty firmly in control of the main thrust of the eventual proposals. Since all 40 recommendations sailed through, as far as I remember, unchanged, Bach’s leadership style has grown far more assertive, and in some cases ruthless, particularly when reacting to public displays of dissent.

The Agenda 2020 process has also, I think, helped to adjust the mindset of what has traditionally been a deeply conservative organisation, instilling a somewhat greater preparedness to acknowledge a need for change and the fact that the world moves – backwards as well as forwards – ever more rapidly.

What it has not done is provide mechanisms to ensure that meaningful, beneficial, fundamental change actually takes place.

Los Angeles 2028 was praised in October for adhering to Agenda 2020 guidelines. Photo: IOC

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Two examples. The IOC has been clear since Sochi 2014 that the cost of putting on the Olympics needs to be better controlled, even if part of its drive in this regard boils down to a relabeling of non-sports infrastructure costs that might be incurred by the host city. This is because glaring and, yes, sometimes at best semi-informed headlines affixing huge costs to Olympic projects are perceived to put off future bidders – especially cities where a public vote on whether to proceed with a bid cannot be avoided.

Some of the Agenda 2020 reforms – actively promoting the maximum use of existing facilities; allowing the organisation of entire sports or disciplines outside the host city or, exceptionally, the host country – were designed to address this.

The trouble is, any Olympic project is a complex and multi-faceted partnership incorporating many stakeholders.

No matter how detailed the host city contract, if it turns out that an important stakeholder’s priorities are different from the IOC’s, it is far from straightforward to make sure that the Lausanne view always prevails.

Nor, frankly, is it axiomatic that it should do so.

Now, in an eye-opening case of the law of unintended consequences, the French have, frankly, lampooned these more flexible rules on venue location by deciding to stage the Paris 2024 surfing events in Tahiti, just the 15,700 kilometres from the host city.

Bach harrumphed about this for a while before deciding it was not a hill that was worth dying on.

Secondly, Agenda 2020 has opened the door to regular review of the Olympic sports programme on an event-by-event basis. This could lead to quite a shake-up, making use of @insidethegames

the enormously detailed data on viewer preferences and behaviour that digital media make it possible to provide.

It could equally lead to a bun-fight with the International Federations. The IOC has considerable financial leverage over many of them, should it choose to use it. But this will require a certain amount of will as merely nodding through the relevant Agenda 2020 recommendation is not by itself enough to make anything of significance happen.

COVID-19 has in any case taken a hand in proceedings. Tokyo 2020 will not now take place until after the Paris 2024 event programme has been finalised. It would therefore appear that Tokyo-related audience data can have no possible role in decisions that are taken. Meanwhile, the number of events on the Summer Olympic programme continues to grow, from 306 at Rio 2016 to an expected 339 in Tokyo.

To sum up then, it seems to me that Olympic Agenda 2020 will probably warrant no more than a footnote in Olympic history,

Agenda 2020 has allowed Paris 2024 to propose Tahiti as its venue for surfing. Photo: Getty Images

simply on the basis that the Movement is in a more difficult and challenging place today than six years ago, when this “vision for the future” was waved through.

These are strange and unsettling times, and it might be that come next year, looking back, Tokyo 2020 may appear as a shaft of light that blazed across our screens symbolising humanity’s resilience, and that the darkest days were finally behind us.

If it does, a) it will provide international sports bodies with their biggest boost in years; and b) it will be a consequence of luck, good faith and an astounding amount of ingenuity and hard work by a diverse community of highly-skilled, profoundlydedicated individuals, including Bach.

Olympic Agenda 2020 will have had precious little to do with it.

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China hopes the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be a magical showcase of snow and ice but preparations for the Games are taking place under a political shadow. Dan Palmer reports.

O

ne of the questions journalists hoping to work for insidethegames get asked at interview seems to be a very simple one. "When are the next Olympics?"

It is a question, however, which catches many out – especially if the next Games are of the Winter variety.

The Olympics, of course, do not take place every four years. It is more like every two, with a festival of snow and ice nestling in between the Summer Games.

Candidate after candidate incorrectly answered "Tokyo 2020" to this question when Pyeongchang 2018 was just around the corner, while some learnt that the Winter Olympics were approaching for the first time as they sat in the interview room.

Their ignorance was in line with the apathy much of the world has for the Winter Games. Skiing and skating fans will beg to differ, but the Winter Olympics have always passed a lot of people by.

Not many winter athletes can be described as superstars on a global scale, and the sports on the programme have not risen to the same status as say athletics or swimming.

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The majority of countries in the world do not enter the Winter Olympics and therefore have no interest.

Unsuitable climates in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and large parts of Asia means the chance of success for an athlete from these areas is essentially zero, and a lot of the famous stories from the Games fall into the light-hearted bracket – think Cool Runnings and Eddie the Eagle.

Living in a powerhouse winter nation such as Norway would inevitably mean seeing the Games through a more positive lens but I still remember a backlash on the BBC show Points of View, after Buffy the Vampire Slayer was cancelled for two weeks in favour of highlights from Nagano 1998.

"We don't even have any snow in Britain," a particularly bloodthirsty commenter barked.

You would think one organisation that would take an interest in the Winter Olympics would be the International Olympic Committee.

But those in the corridors of power in Lausanne have had their hands full recently, and perhaps they too are guilty of giving the Winter Games bridesmaid status in favour of heaping attention on

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DANIEL PALMER MAGAZINE EDITOR, INSIDETHEGAMES

the more glamorous summer sibling.

The Summer Games are, as you will know, in crisis after Tokyo 2020 was moved to next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has prompted a huge rebuilding task, the size of which has never been seen before in the Olympic Movement.

It is no surprise this is an urgent priority, but the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are approaching fast and the one-year-to-go milestone on February 4 seems frighteningly close.

What is more, if any problems do arise surrounding Beijing the IOC will not have as much time to deal with them. The delay to Tokyo 2020 means the gap between the Summer and Winter Games has shortened to just six months, which in Olympic planning terms is cutting it extremely fine.

If the great Tokyo re-arrange has caused officials to take their eye off the Beijing ball, the lack of a suitable grace period between the Games could lead to consequences which will be challenging to address.

“Rather than an inconvenience, we see this short period between Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 as an opportunity,” an IOC spokesman told insidethegames, however.

“In what has been termed the ‘peak to peak’ approach, all parties will work www.facebook.com/insidethegames

closely together in order to capitalise on the opportunities that this short timeframe presents.”

China would usually be seen as a safe pair of hands when it comes to mega-event planning.

Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 and will become the first city to stage the Winter Games as well in 2022.

Although the COVID-19 crisis originated on Chinese soil, the country believes it has things under control. There remains the fear that Beijing 2022 will be scaled back in the same way Tokyo 2020 will be, however.

“We cannot be sure today how the world will look like next year or in the year 2022,” the IOC spokesman said. “So we have to prepare for different scenarios, and this is what we are doing together with our Japanese partners, but the same is true with regard to Beijing 2022.”

The main problem is one of image amid growing international criticism of Chinese political policy.

Xinjiang Province lies thousands of miles to the west of Beijing but if Olympic officials hoped the region would be forgotten they have been sorely mistaken.

Much of the world has been left shocked by reports of Uyghur Muslims being arbitrarily @insidethegames

detained and forced into camps.

China has insisted that these facilities are voluntary schools for anti-extremism training but this explanation is not even close to passing muster with increasingly vocal critics.

More than one million people are said to have been held, with allegations of children being separated from their parents and women forced into birth control.

Chinese policy towards Uyghurs has been described as a "genocide". Photo: Getty Images

Mosques have reportedly been bulldozed with the World Uyghur Congress describing the situation as a “genocide”.

In the face of this, and other Chinese crackdowns in places such as Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan, it is unsurprising that suggestions of a boycott have become more frequent.

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Beijing 2022 is rapidly approaching and the gap between Tokyo 2020 and the Winter Games is only six months. Photo: Getty Images

You may think that the B-word – the nightmare scenario for the IOC – is out of the question and will never happen, and that remains the most likely outcome. But when the first reports of a new respiratory disease began to trickle out of China, nobody would have thought that Tokyo 2020 would be postponed by a year either.

These are unprecedented times in the Olympic Movement and the situation can, and does, change rapidly.

The Winter Olympics would be easier to boycott than the Summer Games, which has a vastly superior international profile and greater financial clout. With fewer countries involved at Beijing 2022, the absence of only a handful of major nations could bring the event to its knees.

“China's hosting of the 2022 Olympic Games flies in the face of the values and principles that underpin the Olympic Movement,” said World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa to insidethegames.

“It is unconscionable for a country committing genocide against Uyghurs and serious human rights violations against Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Mongolians, Chinese activists and many others to host an event celebrating common humanity and solidarity.

“If the Olympics are permitted to go ahead in Beijing in 2022, it will tarnish the reputation of the Olympic Games.”

Pressure on the IOC has come from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which includes politicians from the US, Britain, Japan, Australia and the European Union.

American senator Rick Scott submitted a bipartisan resolution asking for the bidding process to be reopened, and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, when quizzed on the possibility of a boycott, provided more questions than answers.

“Generally speaking my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics www.facebook.com/insidethegames

but there comes a point where that may not be possible,” he said.

Separating sport from wider issues is the clear party line of the IOC, and particularly its President Thomas Bach who has claimed that boycotts “have no political effect” whatsoever.

The former fencer was personally impacted when 80 nations opted out of Moscow 1980 amid Cold War tensions, a move which denied the German the chance of a second Olympic gold medal.

Critics will say that it is not possible to remove sport from politics completely and that the IOC does involve itself in other matters, especially those which do not concern global superpowers like China and are therefore easier to influence.

In October, Bach accepted the Seoul Peace Prize for his role in persuading South and North Korea to march together under one flag at Pyeongchang 2018, where the two neighbours also formed a combined women’s ice hockey team.

The Korean situation is one of the most complex political matters in the world but the IOC did not mind involving sport on this occasion.

“Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC must remain neutral on all global political issues,” the IOC spokesman claimed.

“Awarding the Olympic Games to a National Olympic Committee does not mean that the IOC agrees with the political structure, social circumstances or human rights standards in its country.”

Amid the political shadow, the IOC may have one eye on the ongoing debate surrounding Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter – which declares that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.

The campaign to scrap the rule has been gathering steam in recent months, fuelled by athletes who have a growing desire to @insidethegames

protest amid the global rise of movements such as Black Lives Matter.

Bach has asked the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission to present proposals in December, but has already warned that the Olympics should not be a “marketplace of demonstrations”.

If the IOC does scale back the rule and allow for some type of protest at Tokyo 2020, it is difficult to see China allowing their country to be the target six months on.

Whether anyone would be brave enough to openly criticise the Beijing regime while on Chinese soil is another intriguing question, but there would be a large elephant in the room if certain issues are given airtime and the allegations against the host nation are not.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has rejected the calls for a boycott and claimed China's human rights conditions are "constantly improving".

When focusing purely on sport, the IOC has been encouraged by Beijing 2022’s progress.

Venues, including the impressive Ice Ribbon facility for speed skating, are said to be on track across the hubs of Zhangjiakou, Yanqing and the capital itself.

A new railway linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, which are nearly 200 kilometres apart, has cut the journey time to around 50 minutes and eased fears about the Games being too spread out.

The IOC has also praised Beijing 2022’s swift return to work after COVID-19 restrictions started to ease.

“After the outbreak of COVID-19 and following the recommendations and requirements of the Chinese Government, Beijing 2022 not only prioritised the prevention and control of the pandemic, but also focused on Games preparations to ensure venue construction could resume at the earliest opportunity,” said Beijing 2022’s executive vice president Zhang Jiandong.

The IOC’s Coordination Commission chair Juan Antonio Samaranch pointed out that China is hoping to engage millions of people with winter sport as he tried to hammer home a positive message of legacy.

“Despite these unique circumstances, Beijing 2022 has continued to meet key milestones, a true testament to its determination to provide the perfect stage for the world’s top winter athletes,” he said.

It is those athletes who the IOC hope will hog the headlines when the next Winter Olympics begin.

But with the forecast for the Games frosty in both senses of the meaning, they will know as well as anyone that this is far from certain.

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THE RISE OF

ESPORTS

Esports is a booming industry and talk of Olympic inclusion refuses to go away.

Mike Rowbottom discovers, however, that the gaming juggernaut goes hand-in-hand with questions about health and governance.

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T

here are two big questions to be asked right now of esports. The first is existential – what form should they take, and how can they, or even should they, co-exist with traditional, physical sport?

The second question is organisational.

Who should be in charge of this rapidly expanding, super-lucrative phenomenon? In particular, who should represent it as it seeks to discover its proper relation to the Olympic Movement, whether that means inclusion in the Games or an associated relationship?

So let us take the second question first.

Esports has already featured as a medal event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, and it is due to have the same status at the 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

It featured as a demonstration sport at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games, although it has not made the programme for the 2022 edition in Hangzhou.

On October 29, insidethegames broke the news that the International Olympic Committee’s Esports and Gaming Liaison

Group, chaired by International Cycling Union President David Lappartient, had written to every summer and winter sport and told them they did not plan to recognise any organisation as the world governing body for esports.

“The IOC position is that it does not and is not planning to recognise an esports federation,” the letter from the ELG, seen by insidethegames, said.

Since it was established last December, the Singapore-based Global Esports Federation, backed by Chinese technology company Tencent, has worked to develop strong links with the Olympic Movement. It has announced partnerships with International Federations including those representing taekwondo, karate, modern pentathlon, canoeing, archery, surfing, tennis and squash.

The International Esports Federation, which was established in 2008, has not signed deals with any Olympic sports, instead building its membership with national federations, of which it now boasts 88.

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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Esports is now a massive money-spinning business but governance problems remain. Photo: Getty Images

In reference to the ELG letter, the IESF President, Vlad Marinescu, told insidethegames: “I don’t think it has anything to do with us.

“First of all we have not approached or asked International Federations to be members of the IESF. “Because it has nothing to do with an International Federation.

“Anybody who understands sports structure understands that International Federations are not members of other International Federations.

“International Federations are autonomous bodies to organise sports, the rules for the sports, World Championships for the sports. Some of them participate in the Olympic Games and some don’t, some are members of the Global Association of International Sports Federations and some are recognised by the IOC. “There is never a situation where an International Federation is a member of another International Federation – that was actually

quite ridiculous. And I have a feeling that is the whole feeling behind this communication.

“In the IESF we respect the complete autonomy of the International Federations.

“We are the International Esports Federation, founded in 2008, and we work with national federations of esports around the world.

“We are doing the job of an International Federation – promoting and developing and protecting esports. We are organising the World Championship right now with the continental qualifiers.

“And we are not causing turbulence, we are not jumping into the Olympic Movement, or trying to have some type of legitimacy by stating our affiliation to the IOC, which has never been stated and we don’t have.

“The IESF wants to unite the world of esports – this is our job and that’s what we are doing, and we are doing that from national level to every level.

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“We have 88 national federations affiliated, we have a lot more that are applying.

We should reach 100 national federations by the end of the year.”

Chris Chan, the secretary general of the Singapore National Olympic Council, is the President of the recently-created rival organisation.

“The Global Esports Federation was established with a collective ambition to convene the world’s esports community,” he announced earlier this year.

“Our mission is to bring together the diverse stakeholders on one, global, inclusive platform.”

The GEF has also announced plans to stage the Global Esports Games each December, starting from 2021. This sets up what looks like a direct clash with the IESF’s flagship event.

Marinescu added that this year’s IESF World Championship, which was due to be held in Eilat in Israel in December, has been shifted to February in a bid to

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make it an active rather than a virtual event given the current pandemic lockdowns.

In June, a month after taking over as IESF President, Marinescu addressed the question of whether esports had a place in the Olympics with circumspection.

“There is a fundamental difference with esports compared to other international sports federations," he said.

"The main target of an international sport federation is to attract players, to attract people to practice that sport, to develop the numbers who know about that sport and who play that sport.

“Esports does not have that target. The players are there. They are playing constantly. And there is a huge commercial structure which is further propagating the attraction of players and the commercialisation of players.

“Our target is – how do we enforce the health aspect around gaming?

“And when we think about

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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Huge crowds are attracted to some esports events although the relationship with "traditional" sport is complicated. Photo: Getty Images

the question of having esports in the Olympics specifically – who benefits?

“The answer for a sport that is entering the Olympics – think of any one of the new sports that is entering the Olympics – is they will have more viewership, more resources and they will have a value-added aspect of doing that move.

“With esports I believe the benefit, commercially speaking, to esports itself will be far outweighed by the benefit to the media evaluation of the event itself.

“So I believe the direction and development of esports should be in cooperation with the IOC. “The world is evolving every day. The big question I think isn't if esports should be in the Olympics. It is about what method, or in what regard. Should it be as a demonstration sport? Should it be in its own event?

“So I think we need to have this discussion directly.”

At an International Academy of Sports Science and Technology seminar held in June, Marinescu added: “Part of me says esports is able to be a part of the Games, and the other part of me thinks that it would need its own forum, maybe in association with the IOC, to develop a pure Electronic Games.”

Addressing the broader question – many remain sceptical about the social and sporting benefits of esports, and object to its participants being described as “athletes”.

As a lifelong judo enthusiast who also holds the position of media and marketing manager at the International Judo Federation, Marinescu has a unique perspective, and a positive take on this topic.

“The attractiveness for the youth to participate in esports is very high,” he said. “I think there must be an exchange between traditional sport and esports in order to ensure that we are properly educating the youth in gaming, and in the effects of gaming, as well as proposing physical health www.facebook.com/insidethegames

as a necessary component next to it.

“We can't have one without the other if we want to have a good future.”

So how does he propose reaching that happy equilibrium?

“The issue has to do with how we promote games to the youth, and how we convert, or rather cross-market other potentially more physical games to gamers that are playing less physical games,” he said. “But to be completely honest I think everyone can find their home.

“It's very similar to sports. I have loved to do physical sport since I was very young. I also played video games, and I used to have gaming parties with my friends.

“But I think everyone chooses the games that are most applicable to what they are looking for.

“So if I love water the sports that will be most interesting to me are swimming, water polo and diving. If I am very tall I may have the most affinity with basketball, handball, sports that require that physical asset.

“In esports I believe you have an answer to everyone's request.”

Does he not fear that, for instance, youngsters playing FIFA on Xbox may be prevented from taking to the field because they are too busy indoors gaming? No, he most certainly does not.

“This is an argument I have heard a couple of times and I don't believe it in any way,” he said.

“People who say that esports are taking kids away from physical sports, I think they don't know enough about the market.

“The kids are playing and they will play. It is a $190 billion a year business. There is no competition in that sense.

“The big question for collaboration is not to try to protect the base of people that are participating in one or the other activity, and to retain them there and prohibit them from doing something.

“Because the result will be them preferring to do what they are prohibited from doing. @insidethegames

“The way we need to work is to collaborate in understanding how we can motivate young people, and how we can endorse physical movement as a requirement for kids.

“And how do we convert kids who play games to the physical activity of sport – to have a better life, and to be happy?”

While COVID-19 has provided the IESF with logistical problems regarding the organisation of its next World Championship, it has also provided an expected boost in esports activity by those in enforced lockdowns.

At the AISTS seminar in June, Marinescu cited figures showing that the esports and gaming market had increased by 35 per cent between January and March this year.

“Because of the COVID crisis you have today more sales than ever of games, you have today more people playing than ever, while more people are streaming than ever and more people are watching,” he said.

Marinescu referenced an article from gamesindustry.biz which shows that “from January to March there's been an increase of 35 per cent in the market”.

The report, headlined “Mobile gaming sees record weekly downloads amid COVID-19 lockdown”, said that average weekly installs had reached 1.2 billion as downloads increased by 35 per cent from January to March 4. The article itself cited market intelligence firm App Annie.

A new IESF logo has been designed, and in June the IESF revealed it would launch the World Super League in partnership with Japanese firm TechnoBlood. The intention is to stage the event in 2021, with the IESF hoping to create "one of the biggest tournaments in the world".

The GEF has also announced plans to stage a World Esports Tour.

How this particular game plays out will be worth watching over the coming months.

The IESF has held 11 World Championships, where national teams compete. Photo: IESF

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MIKE ROWBOTTOM CHIEF FEATURE WRITER, INSIDETHEGAMES

Proceed with caution Sport feels very different for both athletes and fans these days.

Mike Rowbottom’s experience of a COVID-proof event involved The Smurfs, worrying about a sugar spoon and a well-protected Sir Mo Farah…

W

ho knew, when the New Norm came through, how shockingly soon the New New Norm was due?

Swiftly say that sentence seven times.

Why? Just because.

And just because sport and the world got blindsided by a coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we have all found ourselves paddling around in an effort to move forward, slowly, like bathers suddenly and frighteningly far from shore, feet not touching the sand.

The headline on the International Olympic Committee’s Agenda 2020 re-vamp early in 2018 makes for ironic reading. “The New Norm: It’s a Games changer.”

To misquote Crocodile Dundee: “That’s not a Games changer. That’s a Games changer.”

In the wake of COVID-19’s ubiquitous arrival, sport in general has been obliged to stop – of course – while re-evaluating and revising its procedures and protocols under the new and all-governing headings of health and safety.

We’ve all been told that the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games will go ahead next year “whatever the cost”, even though it was not made clear whether that was a financial reference.

So it would be reasonable to suppose that, in order to facilitate that ineradicable prospect,

Sir Mo Farah runs past empty seats while competing in the Diamond League bubble in Brussels. Photo: Getty Images

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Games organisers will need to replicate, on a uniquely large scale, the protocols that have been enabling other major sporting events to proceed this year. With caution, of course.

This year’s running of the London Marathon on October 4 proved to be something of a paradigm of the successful new model, with organisers testing athletes regularly before bussing them in for their races on a closed, looped course in St James’s Park.

Event director Hugh Brasher told me that London had taken careful note of the arrangements that had already allowed Formula One racing and Test cricket to take place earlier in the year.

I couldn’t resist asking him if he felt another bio-secure operation might be required next year, with the London Marathon already switched from its traditional April date to October.

“Oh blimey,” he responded. “I think we are all trying to get through this year first.”

Which is very true.

In September I had the opportunity to get an inside view of a bio-secure operation conceived on only a marginally smaller scale than that which supported the London Marathon, namely the Diamond League meeting in Brussels.

I needed to have a test for COVID-19 no earlier than two days before my departure date, with the result being available within 24 hours.

Living in a French village I had my doubts as to how simple this would prove. In the end it was utterly straightforward. I parked up two metres from the nurse’s surgery in our nearest town, waited for one family to emerge, then submitted myself to the novel testing experience, managing not to laugh when my nostrils were tickled, and not to gag when my throat was swabbed.

The result arrived online and on time and on message: negative. I was a legitimate presence in the bubble of the meeting hotel, masked at all times save at breakfast, lunch or dinner, or in my room.

Entering the meeting restaurant on night

one was a little odd. There seemed to be more staring than usual. The elephant in the room – are you a risk? – existed despite the rational knowledge of the testing procedure.

Nobody is more super-aware of their physical health than an elite track and field athlete.

After my first dinner I became aware, as I chatted with a colleague and Britain’s heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, that we all suddenly wondered if we were spending too long maskless, and the conversation soon concluded.

The sugar container at the coffee machine.

It was always packed so full it wouldn’t pour, so I would have to unscrew the top and use a spoon. I was aware of the fact that this was a possibly hazardous touch point – was I at risk, was I putting others at risk?

At lunchtime on the day of the meeting I found myself standing next to Sir Mo Farah at the food counter, and not only was he wearing a mask but also a hoodie. Even the top of his head was protected. I suggested the pasta would give him energy for his coming task. He seemed unmoved by my dietary advice.

I knew there would be virtually no spectators in the King Baudouin Stadium, but nothing could prepare me for the discombobulating experience of seeing world class athletics taking place in that vast emptiness. You had to keep telling yourself: “This is real, it really counts.”

Smurfs – Belgium's comic creations – cavorted for the cameras, their big blue faces sensibly covered.

Competitors were announced with the normal relish to tracts of untenanted seating.

Some among them – young Mondo Duplantis included – made ironic play of this circumstance, waving and smiling extravagantly.

Nor was the use of pre-recorded crowd noise without elements of ludicrousness.

As competitors lined up in their blocks the stadium MC demanded "silence for our athletes". On every occasion, the request was met with complete and utter obedience…

One day we’ll look back on all this and cry.

Then laugh. Then, eventually, forget it.

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