The Daily - Issue #4 - Thursday 10 April 2014

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>inside >equality

Women’s ongoing battle in sport

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>Hosszú

Star wants swimming to inspire all ages

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>amaechi

Looking at the real issues that sport must tackle

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The>Daily

your guide to what’s happening today at the belek/antalya sportaccord convention

www.sportaccordconvention.com @saconvention

thursday, april 10, 2014

Bach to set out Rio action plan

warning: New AIOWF President Gian-Franco Kasper

Kasper in ‘snow and ice’ pledge G

ian-Franco Kasper insisted yesterday that the Winter Olympic Games should remain exclusively for sports on “snow and ice” after he replaced René Fasel as the President of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF). Kasper, the President of FIS, the global governing body of skiing, was named as the new President late on Tuesday during the AIOWF General Assembly. On his first full day at the AIOWF helm, Kasper told The Daily that he was “100 per cent opposed”

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to the recently-mooted idea of some summer Olympic sports switching over to the Winter Games programme, and warned against the danger of “gigantism”. “There will be no changes whatsoever regarding the basic philosophy that Winter Games are sports that are on snow and ice,” Kasper said. “Maybe some sports would like to come over [to the Winter Games] from the Summer Olympics, but we oppose that 100 per cent. “It would completely change the identity of the Winter Games, and secondly we would struggle to find an organiser.

“The Winter Games take place in small or midsize cities near mountains. Those cities could never afford to build another four or five new stadiums. We would create white elephants.” Kasper said that the issue was the main topic of discussion during AIOWF’s joint meeting with the IOC Executive Board yesterday morning. “I said that we need to be very careful,” Kasper added. “We have reached – in my opinion and in the opinion of my colleagues – a certain limit.” Kasper added that he was not surprised by the  Continued on P2

IOC President Thomas Bach will reveal more today about special measures to be introduced to get Rio de Janeiro back on track with the 2016 Olympic Games. Mark Adams, the IOC’s Director of Communications, said a clear action plan must be followed to overcome delays. However, Adams said any suggestion that the Games might be moved to another venue were “far too premature” and he added that there have been no discussions about a “plan B” for any of the venues. Speaking after an IOC Executive Board meeting, Adams said the measures which Rio must adopt would become clearer during the night, but that the broad principles are closer monitoring and reporting with the setting up of task forces to address specific issues. He said: “We have only just started talking to Rio about some of the measures that we want to take with them. You can ask the President.” Adams said it was not unusual for such concerns to arise ahead of an Olympic Games. He added: “What we can say is that there is talk in Rio about ensuring finance for the Games and there is a real sense of urgency within Government as well as within the Organising Committee. “The clock is ticking and every day is crucial but they can still deliver and the President has said that today. It is within their means to be able to do this. There is still time if action is taken now for us to deliver a great Games.”


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