London Olympic Highlights of the Week

IOC Announces Olympic Highlights of the Week

IOC President Jacques Rogge was in Moscow last week for the joint IOC Executive Board-ANOC Council meeting and the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).

(PRWEB) April 20, 2012

IOC ACTIVITIES
PRESIDENT
IOC President Jacques Rogge was in Moscow last week for the joint IOC Executive Board-ANOC Council meeting and the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The opening of the GA was attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who also had a private meeting with IOC President. President Rogge made a keynote speech to the sports ministers attending the 2nd World Olympic Sport Convention in Moscow. The IOC President also attended a reception given by President Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait, IOC member and President of the Olympic Council of Asia, was voted in as President of ANOC at the opening of its General Assembly in Moscow.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has announced that the 2013 World Boxing Championships will take place in Kazakhstan. AIBA President and IOC member Ching-Kuo Wu has signed an agreement with the President of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation (KBF), Timur Kulibayev, confirming Astana as the host city. The AIBA World Boxing Academy is currently being built near Almaty and is expected to be open by the time the 2013 Championships take place.

The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) General Assembly held in London has awarded the 2018 ISSF World Championships in all events to the city of Changwon, Republic of Korea. The ISSF said that the Korean Government had agreed to invest more than USD 30 million to rebuild existing venues and to organise the event. The new compound will feature six shotgun layouts, 100 50m targets and 100 10m targets, 14 25m layouts as well as several running target layouts.

The first event in the International Triathlon Union’s World Triathlon Series has taken place in Sydney. More than 2,500 triathletes took part, including elite participants vying for Olympic qualification.

Participants have arrived in Rostov, Russia, for the International Union of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM) World Cup, which takes place this weekend. The event is the final opportunity for pentathletes to gain valuable ranking points to qualify for the final in Chengdu, China, next month, the key event for Olympic qualification. Rostov is hosting a World Cup for the first time.

A total of 161 athletes from 34 countries are taking part in the International Swimming Federation (FINA) Olympic Games Synchronised Swimming Qualification competition, a five-day event at the aquatics venue in London. Twosynchronised swimming events are on the Olympic programme - duet and team - with six medals on offer. The competition will also serve as a test event and is a key opportunity for the teams to test the pool and familiarise themselves with the venue ahead of the Games.

The qualification process for Asian nations for the International Rugby Board World Cup 2015 has begun in the Philippines. There is strong interest in rugby in Asia following a GBP 9 million investment programme from 2009 to 2012. According to the IRB, there has been an 18 percent increase in rugby participation in Asia since the 2007 World Cup. Japan is due to stage the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the first Asian country to do so.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)’s World Junior Championships in Barcelona, from 10 to 15 July, are on course to become the biggest gathering in terms of participating national IAAF member federations in the history of the Championships. Some 186 IAAF national member federations have indicated they will participate, with around 1,856 athletes competing, compared with the previous high of 176 countries in Beijing in 2006.

WINTER IFS
The 2002 Olympic gold medallist Bent Ånund Ramsfjell has been elected as a Vice-President of the World Curling Federation (WCF) at the Federation’s annual general assembly in Basle. The election of Ramsfjell follows the decision of Patrick Hürlimann, himself an Olympic gold medallist, to step down from the position he had held since 2010 due to work commitments. The next assembly will take place during the inaugural WCF Congress at the Turnberry Resort in Scotland from 16 to 20 October this year.

The second International Skating Union (ISU) World Team Trophy concludes in Tokyo, Japan, this weekend. The event is normally held every two years, however the ISU World Team Trophy 2011 was postponed until 2012 due to the series of natural disasters that struck Japan in March 2011. The next ISU World Team Trophy is due to be held in 2013. The six best national figure skating teams of the 2011/12 season are performing. They are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the USA. The ISU World Team Trophy is a competition between six national figure skating teams. Each team has eight skaters - two men, two ladies, one pair and one ice dance couple.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
In all, 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and 170 ministers and government sports authorities met in Moscow this week for the 2nd World Olympic Sport Convention. Issues discussed included the importance of good working relations and close collaboration between NOCs and governments for the positive development of the Olympic Movement. Other issues included the critical role NOCs play in the fight against doping and illegal betting; the development of grass-roots sport; the importance of a collaborative high-performance sports system; and the role of sport as a catalyst for improved social and education policies.

Milan Jirasek, President of the Czech NOC, has presented triathlete Tomáš Slavata, a member of the Board of the Czech Fair Play Club, with the IOC Sport and Social Responsibility Trophy. The award recognises Slavata’s efforts to support children from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds and organise events aimed at integrating these children into society and foster a sense of community among young people.

ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES
LONDON 2012
The London Games Organising Committee (LOCOG) marked 100 days to go to the start of the Games by unveiling the official slogan: “Inspire a generation”. London 2012 also unveiled the latest “spectacular” installation of Olympic rings, this time at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in west London. The rings are 50m long, made up of 20,000 plants and visible from the Heathrow airport flight path. London 2012 also announced that the Red Arrows - the Royal Air Force’s aerobatic team - will perform a flypast across the UK to mark the Opening Ceremony on 27 July.

The Sochi 2014 volunteer team’s participation in the All-Russian volunteer “Youth Train” event has finished. Having covered 5,000km over 10 days and carried out more than five hours of Olympic warm-up in eight Russian cities, the Sochi 2014 volunteer team has returned to Moscow. During the trip to the Russian cities, volunteers explained about the Olympic and Paralympic Movement and organised mobile registration points for anyone who wanted to sign up to become a Sochi 2014 volunteer.

TOP PARTNERS
Worldwide Olympic Partner McDonald’s marked 100 Days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games this week, with the launch its ‘Champions of Play’ programme. A two-fold scheme developed for children aged 6-14, McDonald’s will bring nearly 200 youngsters from more than 34 countries to the London 2012 Olympic Games for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Participants will attend Olympic sporting events, meet athletes, tour cultural sights and enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at selected venues. Meanwhile, the Champions of Play Olympic Games Challenge website, to be launched in June, will see Olympians motivate children from all over the world to get active by participating in a series of fun challenges.