Category Archives: International Olympic Committee

‘Wrong side of history’: Ukraine athletes accuse IOC of ‘kowtowing’ to Russia

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  • Letter says ‘IOC must choose a side in this war’
  • Ukraine would boycott 2024 Olympics if Russia take part

Ukraine’s athletes have accused the International Olympic Committee of rewarding Vladimir Putin’s aggression and being “on the wrong side of history” in an escalating war of words over whether Russians should compete at the Paris 2024 Games. The IOC recently moved away from having an outright ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus and is investigating ways they can qualify for the Olympics under a neutral flag.

In a letter to Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, sent last week, the IOC president, Thomas Bach, criticised Ukraine’s threat to boycott the Games, saying it would violate the Olympic charter. That stance has angered Ukraine’s athletes, who have hit back by suggesting the IOC is “kowtowing” to Russia.

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Anthony Albanese remembers Shinzo Abe as ‘a true friend’ of Australia

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Prime minister says the assassinated former leader of Japan ‘understood instinctively’ the values the two countries shared

Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to Shinzo Abe, saying he was still in shock at news of the former Japanese prime minister’s assassination.

The friendship Abe offered Australia was “warm in sentiment and profound in consequence”, Albanese said on Saturday.

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‘Uniquely qualified’: John Coates drafted letter of praise for himself to Brisbane Olympics organisers

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  • Outgoing AOC president drafted compliments of his own work
  • ‘Hard to think of anyone better qualified in the world of sport’

John Coates, the outgoing president of the Australian Olympic Committee, drafted his own letter of recommendation stating that it was “hard to think of anybody better qualified in the world of sport” to be appointed to the organising committee of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Coates is Australia’s most celebrated official in the Olympic movement and a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee. He stood down on Saturday as president of the AOC after 32 years. He will become the AOC’s inaugural honorary life president after the 2024 Paris Olympics, when he stands down from the IOC. The life presidency role was written into the AOC’s constitution at last year’s AGM and Coates was formally awarded the position in March 2022.

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AOC elects Ian Chesterman to succeed John Coates as president

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Coates uses outgoing address to announce Australian Olympic Committee support for Ukrainian athletes to resettle in Australia

Stepping into the shoes vacated by the most influential figure in Australian Olympic history, new Australian Olympic Committee president Ian Chesterman wants to inspire the next generation of Olympians.

Chesterman was elected to succeed John Coates as AOC president, convincingly defeating triple Olympic medallist Mark Stockwell 67-26 in a vote of AOC delegates at Saturday’s annual general meeting in Sydney.

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The Kamila Valieva case shows yet again that the IOC is betraying teen athletes

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This rotten organisation stood by while the 15-year-old skater and her Olympic dreams were publicly crushed

A fish rots from the head. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the head of the Olympic movement, and it is rotten to the core. Long ago, this vile organisation abandoned its stated principles of “excellence, friendship and respect” to embrace greed, corruption and abuse.

For many, the enduring image of Bejing 2022 will not be one of Olympic glory, but the tragic and bizarre spectacle attending the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva. Once again, the Russians got caught cheating: Valieva tested positive for a banned medication. Still the IOC allowed her to compete, and then stood by while this child and her Olympic dreams were publicly crushed. After her performance collapsed, her despicable coach humiliated her, badgering her about on-ice failures as Valieva left the rink.

Sarah Klein is a civil attorney and advocate for survivors of sexual abuse

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Beijing 2022 organisers claim stories of Xinjiang human rights abuses are ‘lies’

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  • Winter Olympics plunged into further controversy
  • Spokesperson Yan Jiarong also insists Taiwan is part of China

The Winter Olympics have been plunged into further controversy after Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong dismissed human rights violations among the Uyghur Muslim population as “lies” and insisted Taiwan was part of China.

Yan, a former member of the Chinese delegation to the UN general assembly, referred to “so-called forced labour” in Xinjiang in response to one question, before saying China was against the “politicising of sports”.

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Spectre of 1936 and 1980 haunts Beijing 2022 as fear and repression breed silence

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China has been repressing minorities and targeting dissenters but anyone who chooses to speak out faces the threat of reprisal from a hostile regime

Zumretay Arkin is remembering the day she thought she might change the International Olympic Committee’s mind. It was October 2020, and human rights groups, representing Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, and the democracy movement in Hong Kong, were granted a meeting with senior IOC figures to discuss their concerns about the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“I explained how millions of Uyghurs are being arbitrarily detained in concentration camps,” she says. “The IOC was told survivors’ stories of rapes and torture, forced sterilisation and repression. And about families who have not heard from relatives for years.

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North Korea barred from competing at 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

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IOC says suspension is punishment for North Korea refusing to send team to Tokyo Games over Covid fears

North Korea has been formally suspended from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by the IOC as punishment for refusing to send a team to the Tokyo Games, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, said the North Korean national Olympic body would also now forfeit money it was due from previous Olympics. The unspecified amount – potentially millions of dollars – had been withheld because of international sanctions.

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Confident Brisbane eagerly awaits its time to shine as host of the 2032 Olympics

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The Queensland capital wants the world to know how far it has come, with the IOC set to confirm winning Olympic Games bid on Wednesday

The last time Brisbane bid to host the Olympic Games, many locals still referred to the place as “a big country town”.

The Queensland capital’s opponents to host the 1992 games argued the city was too small and unknown. There are few similar doubts this time around, as Brisbane is set to be anointed host of the 2032 Olympics.

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Olympics to begin but softball opener is unlikely to distract a fearful nation | Justin McCurry

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With Covid cases mounting and local resistance escalating ever higher, the hope is that the actual action beginning on Wednesday will dampen down the criticism

The Olympic softball teams of Japan and Australia will have to produce something close to a classic this week if they are to divert attention from an increasingly chaotic build-up to the Tokyo Games.

In normal times memories of the scandals that blighted preparations for the Games – from allegations of vote-buying during the bidding stage to high-profile resignations over sexism – would shrink into the background as soon as the first pitch is delivered at the Azuma baseball stadium in Fukushima on Wednesday in the opening action from the Olympics.

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Thomas Bach promises ‘safe and secure’ Olympics as Tokyo Covid cases soar

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Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, has said a “safe and secure” Tokyo Olympics will be a show of global solidarity during the pandemic – on the same day as infections in the host city reached their highest level for almost six months.

The discovery of a coronavirus cluster at a hotel where dozens of Brazilian team members are staying has increased concerns about infections spreading over the summer.

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Tokyo 2020 will allow up to 10,000 domestic fans into Olympic venues

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  • Olympic organisers cap fans at 50% of venue capacity
  • Spectators could still be cut if infection situation worsens

Thousands of Japanese spectators will be allowed to attend events at the Olympic Games this summer, organisers said on Monday, despite warnings from health experts that crowds risk fuelling a surge in coronavirus cases.

The president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, Seiko Hashimoto, said attendance would be capped at up to 50% of a venue’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 people.

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IOC seeks Covid vaccines for athletes in second wave so Olympics can go ahead

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  • IOC: athletes do not want to ‘jump queue’ but must get jabs
  • Confidence remains delayed 2020 Games will go ahead in July

The International Olympic Committee is working on ways to get athletes the coronavirus jab in the second or third wave so that the Tokyo Games can go ahead safely in July, the Guardian has been told.

While insisting that we “do not want to queue jump”, IOC sources are hoping athletes from around the globe will be high up on the vaccination list, once key workers and the vulnerable are given the jab.

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Fresh fears for Tokyo Olympics as host city sees surge in Covid-19 infections

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  • Tokyo reported 1,300 new coronavirus infections on Thursday
  • Health experts concerned over stretched medical infrastructure

When Japanese and International Olympic Committee officials finally accepted defeat in March and postponed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there was general agreement that a one-year wait would give the world ample time to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.

The delayed Olympics, the then prime minister Shinzo Abe said, would be an opportunity to pay tribute to the human spirit in overcoming the world’s biggest public health crisis for a century.

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‘The Kremlin wants me dead’: Russia’s sports doping whistleblower speaks out

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Grigory Rodchenkov was head of Russia’s ‘anti-doping’ centre but, in 2015, he fled to the US. He talks to the Observer’s former Moscow correspondent about the lies, the truth and life on the run

The man in front of me is wearing a disguise. We are talking on Skype. I’m at my home near London and Dr Grigory Rodchenkov is at an undisclosed location somewhere in America, guarded 24/7 by armed FBI agents. How is he? “My life is good. My mood is very good,” he says. He’s grinning, I think. Since he’s wearing a black scarf over his face and dark glasses, it’s hard to tell.

The cloak-and-dagger atmospherics surrounding our interview might seem a little overblown. Until, that is, you remember, Vladimir Putin’s roving assassins are trying to establish Rodchenkov’s secret location so they can snuff him out, a traitor to the state. Russia’s president has a long list of enemies. But Rodchenkov – the most significant sports whistleblower of the 21st century – is probably at the top.

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‘It was dehumanising’: Jessica Shuran Yu condemns training abuse in China

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  • World championship skater describes culture of abuse
  • Urges IOC to better protect skaters before Beijing 2022

A world championship figure skater has urged the International Olympic Committee to do more to protect vulnerable young girls after detailing how she and others suffered abuse inside the Chinese system.

Jessica Shuran Yu, who was born, raised and trained in China and competed in the 2017 world championships before helping to coach junior skaters, told the Guardian that a “culture of physical discipline” was common in the country, with athletes also frequently criticised as “lazy”, “stupid”, “retarded”, “useless” and “fat”.

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