Bidding Sports Intel Report 130816

iSportconnect poll results (9,540 people who voted): With 37% of the votes, Wrestling was just ahead of Baseball/Softball who received 35% of the votes, clearly indicating the popularity of the joint bid. Squash received the fewest of the votes with 28% but is still considered to have a real chance of Olympic inclusion. 

SQUASH – WSF

August 19, 2013

Rotterdam's Victoria sporting club is gearing up to play host to two world class tournaments with the Double AR Rotterdam Open Squash 2013 and the HDI Gerling Rotterdam Open Tennis 2013 taking place in the Dutch city in the coming days. The squash event, a Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger 15 Championship, is due to run from August 27 to September 1, while the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures event is scheduled to start on Friday (August 24) and runs through until September 1. Organisers of the Rotterdam Squash Open hope that the simultaneous staging of the two tournaments will raise the profile of squash and boost its campaign for Olympic inclusion just a few days before the decision is due to be made at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires on September 8. Some of the biggest names in tennis, including multi-Grand Slam winners Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Andre Agassi and Kim Clijsters, have backed the campaign to get squash on the Olympic sports programme.

August 20, 2013

Namibian squash recently made a big breakthrough with the announcement that Namibia has won the rights to stage the 2014 WSF World Junior Squash Championships. The World Squash Federation event, which will include the Men and Women’s World Junior Individual Championships in addition to the Men’s World Junior Team Championship, will be held in the capital Windhoek from 10-21 August 2014. "This is the first event of this magnitude to be hosted in our country and we look forward to welcoming juniors from all over the world to our beautiful country,” he added. "The main objective for the Namibian Squash Association remains to promote squash as a choice of sport for the general public. By hosting a global showpiece of the sport, we hope this will give a major boost to our vision of mass participation from the full spectrum of our communities and leave behind a legacy that will see many Namibians - especially our youth - take up a fun and exciting sport,” he added. Kakehongo added that the championships have Namibian government support. "We are excited to be part of the process to bring such a major international event to Namibia," said Shivute Katamba, Chief Administrator of the Namibian Sport Commission on behalf of the Ministry of Sport.

WRESTLING – FILA

August 16, 2013

Last week it was announced that wrestling — at the strong urging of the IOC — will add two women's freestyle weight classes for the Rio Games. The sport will subsequently cut one each from men's freestyle and Greco-Roman to achieve a "6-6-6" weight class split of the three disciplines. "This is a huge development," said retired Canadian wrestler Carol Huynh, a bronze medalist at the London Games and one of five FILA presenters for a crucial IOC meeting in May. "It's going to be a huge change for women's wrestling." FILA sent a brochure to every member of the IOC on Thursday promoting women's wrestling as its fastest-growing segment, calling that "a trend we're committed to increasing." FILA has also allocated a spot for a female vice president and three spots for women on its bureau, while adding a commission dedicated to furthering women's wrestling. To highlight its push toward gender equity, FILA staged a symbolic exhibition last month that saw women wrestle in Olympia for the first time. Though male wrestlers have been forced to give up two potential gold medals for the sake of modernization, everyone in the wrestling community knows that impressing the IOC is all that matters right now. "They understand very well. I didn't have a single protest," Lalovic said. "Men's wrestling understands that they have to adapt."

August 23, 2013

Reaction to iSportconnect poll: Speaking to iSportconnect in June, Nenad Lalovic, president of wrestling’s international governing body FILA, spoke of his confidence. “We are the favourite and that was clearly said by our competitors at St Petersburg (SportAccord Convention),” said Lalovic. “We did it (presentation) very well in St Petersburg and we were the sole sport to be elected in the first half with eight votes. All the other sports got around six votes and we got eight immediately. That makes us optimistic. The new session should be in same percentage as before.”

August 23, 2013

Wrestler Sushil Kumar, the only Indian to win two individual Olympic medals, said Friday that the sport's administrators did not take him seriously when he revealed he was offered money to lose the final bout in the 2010 World Championships in Moscow. "I had told even in 2010 about this incident, but nobody responded. I'm not in FILA or any other federation, so I can't say if the Russian's medal should be taken away," Sushil told a news channel of his 66 kg freestyle bout against Russian Alan Gogayev in the World Championships. The Indian rejected the offer and won 3-1. He said he was offered around Rs 3 crore to lose the title clash. "I was approached through a coach to throw the final bout. I was offered about Rs 3 crore. Wrestling is huge in Russia, and I suppose they didn't expect an Indian to enter the final," said Sushil. The 30-year-old won the bronze medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics and followed up with a silver at the London Games last year. Refusing money is not new for the champion athlete. Sushil declined a Rs 50 lakh offer for appearing in a surrogate advertisement for a liquor brand.

2020 BID CITIES

August 22, 2013

Madrid edges closer to Tokyo in the race for the 2020 Olympics in the final edition of the Around the Rings Olympic Bid Power Index -- while Istanbul sags as the Sep. 7 IOC vote looms. Istanbul tied Tokyo for the lead in the May edition of the Power Index. But the travails of the anti-government protests in June cost momentum that the Turkish bid seemed to enjoy a few months ago. Comments from the IOC Evaluation Commission report issued in June also affected the Istanbul rating. Tokyo scores 77 out of 100 points, Madrid rises to 76 while Istanbul falls to 75 from 78 in May. Madrid scores better, in part because the IOC report confirmed the strong technical foundation of the Spanish bid, which still faces economic challenges. Tokyo drops its score in just one of the 11 categories that comprise the ATR Power Index but still may have to deal with issues from the 2011 earthquake. The ATR Power Index, now in its ninth year, is a measure of the relative strength of the cities seeking the Olympic Games. The index is based on first-hand visits to the bid cities, interviews with bid leaders and experts, and documents such as the bid files and IOC commission reports. The bids are rated across 11 categories, nine of them worth 10 points each, two worth five each due to their more subjective nature (ambience and last Olympics hosted). Further details here

ISTANBUL

August 21, 2013

Zafer Çağlayan, economic minister for Turkey, recently announced Turkey’s construction industry had obtained 154 international projects worth $14 billion so far this year, strengthening Istanbul 2020’s credentials to deliver the infrastructure required for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The country’s construction industry is now active in 101 countries around the world and began 40 projects in 27 countries worth $2.4 billion just in the month of July. Engineering News Record magazine’s top 225 international contractors for 2012 has more Turkish contractors than any other country apart from China. Olympic venue and facility construction has been planned alongside Turkey’s 2023 Master Plan and the National Sports Plan. Only nine permanent new venues will need to be built for the 37 total planned, with 11 already in place and 11 planned and six temporary venues. İnönü Stadium will be completed no matter the International Olympic Committee’s Host City decision, while the majority of spending is already underway or planned. Around $1.1 billion of the non-OCOG infrastructure budget will be spent on capital works for the Games. In all, the country’s government estimates Turkish construction companies have undertaken 7,181 projects worldwide worth $252 billion.

MADRID

August 21, 2013

The popular support for the Madrid 2020 Olympic Bid (81% of citizens and 90% of youngsters under 35) has also been proven in the social networks. Yesterday’s meeting at Twitter, aimed at showing the unanimous social support for the Olympic project through the hashtag #WeWanttheOGinMadrid, was certainly remarkable. Madrid 2020’s symbolic call was scheduled for the 20 August, at 20:20, but the users of social networks started tweeting their support messages for the Bid until they became world and national trending topics several times. “Together we can”, “Let’s show the World how well we do things in Madrid” or “Spanish sport deserves to live the Games in Madrid” were some of the most used messages yesterday evening.  Thousands of anonymous people showed their wishes to see Madrid as Olympic capital in 2020, a dream shared by athletes such as synchronized swimmer Ona Carbonell, ex tennis player Vivi Ruano, gymnast Almudena Cid…; media including Spanish National TV, Radio SER Network, ABC newspaper…; sports journalists such as Ernest Riveras, José Félix Díaz, Rosana Romero…; figures from the world of culture such as pop star Alejandro Sanz, and public and private entities including city councils or sporting firms.

August 22, 2013

Madrid 2020 President Alejandro Blanco was confident that his city’s bid for the 2020 Olympic Games was in a strong position ahead of the all-important meeting in Buenos Aires next month.  Blanco and Ana Botella, Mayor of Madrid, held an informal meeting with the media in what was their last public appearance before flying to Buenos Aires. Blanco said: “I'm leaving for Rio de Janeiro tomorrow to attend the Judo World Championship and to Buenos Aires from there. “We are arriving to Argentina with strength, with the experience we have gained not only in this bid, but also during the two previous attempts. We are convinced of the good results.” The delegation of Madrid 2020 will land in Buenos Aires on August 24 and prepare for the arrival of the IOC members. Blanco stressed the importance of working thoroughly in the city before the vote and added: “Madrid 2020 is well known for its presentations and this can only be achieved on the basis of hard work. Preparing a careful staging, holding meetings, collecting the latest opinions...One of the best ways to prove our commitment is to work hard before the IOC's arrival.”

TOKYO

August 20, 2013

A senior Tokyo 2020 official has insisted the Fukushima nuclear plant poses "no threat" to the Japanese capital despite news that the facility has sprung a leak of highly radioactive water. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), admitted yesterday that at least 300 tonnes of water had seeped from a storage tank into the ground, marking the worst leak in almost two and a half years since the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The radiation level of the water, which continues to leak, is about 100 millisieverts per hour - a person standing 50 centimetres away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers. After 10 hours, a worker in that proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white blood cells. However, Tokyo 2020's acting communications director Masa Takaya seems unconcerned by the problem as the Fukushima site is located at a safe distance from the city. "I have seen news reports about activity at the Fukushima plant," he told insidethegames. "There is no threat in Tokyo with the plant over 250km away and the city's safety is not affected. Japanese Government officials are taking all necessary steps to control the situation, and experts are acting quickly and efficiently. Tokyo 2020's bid effort remains focused on providing the best possible stage for athletes, and we will work closely with all relevant Government authorities to ensure the safety of all Games participants."

August 23, 2013

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe has confirmed that he will lead the Tokyo 2020 delegation to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 125th Session in Buenos Aires. Speaking at an official departure ceremony in front of 800 Tokyo 2020 supporters, Abe said: “By each and every one of the 800 passionate Tokyo 2020 supporters in this room carrying out their responsibilities, I am hopeful that when the IOC makes their decision on September 7 in Buenos Aires we will witness Tokyo 2020’s victory. I will go to Buenos Aires as well.” The ceremony was also a chance for bid organisers to repeat their ideas for the Games and the bid committee underlined their plans to make have athletes at the centre of society.