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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT / Sports Features Communications

SOCHI: Formal sporting competition in the 2014 Winter Olympics will not start until the spring of that year in Sochi but already another contest has begun with the process to find a Games mascot.

Sochi organisers believe this is the first time in Games history that every resident of a country - Russia in this case - will have the chance to submit their ideas for the mascot. The winner will be chosen by a national vote next February 7 - exactly three years before the Games begin in Sochi.

Organising ceo Dmitry Chernyshenko said: "The Olympic mascot will become the most important symbol of the Sochi Games over the next few years and will represent Russia on the world stage.

"It should reflect the national and cultural characteristics of Russia, be in keeping with the spirit of the occasion, generate positive emotions and promote Olympic and Paralympic values. So we have made an unprecedented decision – to get our Mascot designed by the whole country. Yes, it will be a challenge, but we are ready to ensure that every vote is heard."

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Orser’s management agency IMG said in a statement Tuesday that Kim’s mother Park Mi-hee informed the coach on Aug. 2 that “he would no longer be retained” to coach the 19-year-old skater. IMG said “no reason was given for the sudden and unexpected decision.”

Kim’s management company AT Sports later released a statement saying relations between the skater and coach have been “uncomfortable” since May.

“I am honored to have worked with such a talented and gifted skater,” Orser said in his statement. “I wish her all the best as she moves forward in her skating career.”

Kim announced last month that she would skip the Grand Prix series this season and focus instead on the world championships. She continues to train at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.

Kim began working with Orser in 2006, when she came to Toronto to work with noted choreographer David Wilson. Orser, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, became her full-time coach in 2007, and Kim flourished under his guidance. She overwhelmed the field in Vancouver, shattering her own world record by 18 points, as she won South Korea’s first Olympic gold in a sport other than speedskating.

She also won the 2009 world championships in record fashion, and three Grand Prix final titles.

Her success on the ice has made her wildly popular in South Korea, where she is called “Queen Yu-na.” She does commercials for everything from mobile phones to bread. She is also a key part of Pyeongchang’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

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More than 1,200 cyclists were in Jungbong to support the bid / PyeongChang 2018
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT / Sports Features Communications

SEOUL, Aug 23: Local athletes from PyeongChang have become the latest sportsmen and women to put their best foot forward in support of the city's bid to win host rights to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

A 10km run around the Alpensia Resort which would host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was the event. Some 43 teams took part under the organisational control of the PyeongChang Athletics Federation.

PAF president Bum-yeon Lee said: “We are delighted to host this race in such beautiful surroundings. The event was planned originally to celebrate PyeongChang’s selection as a candidate city and we expect that events such as these will continue to build enthusiasm for the bid not only within the region but across the country.”

Olympic Village

Alpensia is one of the principal Olympic clusters in the bid’s Games Plan and would also be the location of the main Olympic Village and host competitions such as the cross-country and biathlon.

PyeongChang organisers also hosted a cross-country challenger mountain bike race with more than 1,200 participants in Jungbong which is the proposed venue for Alpine skiing.

PyeongChang 2018 chairman and ceo, Yang Ho Cho said: “The sporting events held across PyeongChang this past weekend highlights our passion for sport, no matter what the season. As part of our bid for the 2018 Winter Games, we aim to show that our venues and facilities are multi-purpose and can be enjoyed by people all year round.”

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The 32-year-old Bobek choked up in court in Jersey City on Monday as she said she was sorry. She pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to distribute meth.

She was among nearly 30 people accused last year of running a network that allegedly distributed $10,000 in meth per week. The alleged leader, Edward Cruz Jr., was sentenced this month to 16 years in prison.

Bobek won the U.S. figure skating title in 1995 but finished 17th at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

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The International Olympic Committee said Thursday it will study a request by the track and field governing body to include cross country running. Its program commission will meet in September and consider the proposal from the IAAF.

The addition of a new sport to the winter program likely will be decided at the IOC session scheduled for July in Durban, South Africa. That’s when the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be chosen.

The IOC has rejected previous IAAF petitions for cross country, and must consider if the event meets Olympic rules.

Rule 6.2 of the Olympic Charter states that “only those sports which are practiced on snow and ice are considered as winter sports.”

However, the opportunity to add an event that gives African countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya a genuine chance of winning medals would fit the IOC’s policy of “universality”—encouraging the maximum number of competitors. Of more than 200 Olympic nations, only 82 took part at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

The IOC has more scope to add events and competitors at the Winter Olympics compared to the Summer Games, which is restricted to 10,500 athletes.

“There is a little bit more flexibility within the winter program because there no official cap in terms of athletes,” IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

The IOC said its program commission also will begin evaluating requests from existing sports for new medal events at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The International Ski Federation has resubmitted proposals for women’s ski jumping and an Alpine skiing team event—which were rejected for the Vancouver program—and put forward ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle for the first time.

The program commission will advise the IOC executive board, which meets Oct. 23-25 in Acapulco, Mexico.

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Beyond the tangible progress, however, lies a lingering concern: Will London be safe from a terrorist attack?

London has been a recent target of international terrorism: The day after the capital was awarded the Olympics, four homegrown suicide bombers attacked the city’s subway and bus network, killing 52 commuters and themselves in July 2005.

Investigators believe the group were likely guided by al-Qaida operatives.

The head of Britain’s transport police at that time of the 2005 attacks was Sir Ian Johnston, and he’s director of security for the London Olympic organizing committee.

Johnston says the official threat level during the games will be set at “severe”—just one notch below the most extreme level of “critical.”

“You can’t run at critical for very long,” Johnston said during a three-day world press briefing on Olympic preparations this week. “We can escalate to critical, but when you’re running at severe, that’s already a pretty high level of threat.”

London’s threat level was last classified as “critical” in July 2007, and has been set as “severe”—meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely—since January.

Johnston said organizers will operate a “100-percent search regime,” meaning all spectators, officials and media will be checked and their bags scanned or searched upon entry at Olympic venues. People will be prohibited from taking liquids, even bottled water, into the sites.

“I think people will understand that it is for their safety,” Johnston said, referring to a measure that is a throwback to the tight global airline restrictions imposed after the foiled 2006 plot to blow up trans-Atlantic planes with liquid explosives.

The tight spectator security in London marks a shift from last February’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where checks were limited and often random. Johnston said the threat level in Vancouver was extremely low.

Johnston—who has had a 44-year career in policing, including eight years as chief constable of British Transport Police—said London will avoid being heavy-handed and seek to run “effective and discreet” security.

Security has been a top concern at the Olympics since the slaying of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Games. Olympic planners have ramped up security following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Britain is viewed as a high security threat, and the Olympics offer a platform for any terrorist group looking for maximum impact and publicity.

“If you rank the order of the countries that al-Qaida wants to do things to, it’s the `Great Satan’ (United States) first, and it’s the Brits second,” said Bob Ayers, a London-based former U.S. intelligence officer. “Here’s this massive event coming up. You know exactly when it’s going to occur … If you’re a terrorist planner, it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Ayers said stopping a determined suicide bomber would be “impossible,” stressing that the key work will be done in the leadup to the games as security officials monitor communications and try to break up any plots in the planning stages.

The task of guarding the Olympics is huge: Protecting 10,500 athletes, 15,000 officials, 25,000 media and hundreds of thousands of visitors and spectators.

About 12,000 police officers will be on duty each day—more than double the 5,000 per day used to guard a Group of 20 summit meeting last year in east London, close to the Olympic site.

The centerpiece complex is the 1-square-mile Olympic Park in the Stratford area, where venues include the 80,000-seat main stadium, aquatics center, velodrome, basketball and handball arenas and the main media center. The outer structures of the venues are mostly complete.

Up to 250,000 spectators a day are expected to flood into the park during the games.

But the Olympics also feature venues around the city, including Lord’s cricket ground (archery), Wimbledon (tennis), Horse Guard’s Parade (beach volleyball) and the O2 Arena (basketball and gymnastics). The sailing venue is in Weymouth on England’s south coast, and soccer matches will be played across Britain, including Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Coventry. National Olympic teams will also have pre-games training camps around the country.

Security outside the Olympic venues is another major challenge, particularly on the public transport network. Hundreds of thousands of people will be riding subway trains and the Javelin shuttle train running from central London to the Olympic Park.

Johnston said it is impossible to screen every passenger and that police sniffer dogs may be put to use.

The International Olympic Committee has expressed full confidence in Britain’s security plans.

“The one issue no city can guarantee is security,” senior Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said. “That varies from country to country and city to city. We know London has the best people in place. This a country that has been affected by terrorism and is not new to security issues. They are about as good as it would get anywhere in the world.”

Britain’s new Conservative-led coalition government is urgently reviewing security plans for the Olympics.

It has pledged not to cut the $950 million core security budget, but there will likely be pressure not to use a $380 million contingency fund. Britain’s government is imposing major cuts across all government departments as it attempts to erase the country’s national debt.

John Patten, a member of the House of Lords and former government minister, has accused the previous Labour-led government of failing to address security issues away from the centerpiece venues.

“While the high level of security at the Olympic Park is welcome and evident, the other venues are … wide open to severe security risk,” Patten told a recent House of Lords debate. “This is something to which those with responsibility in this area must turn.”

Patten said in June that the most vulnerable Olympic sites may be venues outside central London and training facilities. He said authorities are also worried about the potential use of improvised chemical bombs—known as ICDs— and cyber attacks to disable venue and transport ticketing systems.

Gen. David Richards, the incoming head of Britain’s armed forces, indicated the military may provide specialist teams—usually deployed in Afghanistan—to check for roadside bombs.

Defense Secretary Liam Fox confirmed last month that discussions are under way to determine the role Britain’s military will have in protecting the games.

Britain’s spy agencies and police will share information on threats through a dedicated Olympic intelligence center.

London will also likely see a range of new technologies deployed to protect the Olympics, including CCTV systems to check for suspicious activity among spectators and unmanned drone aircraft to monitor crowds.

“Ultimately there are limits to how much you can do to make things secure, and at the same time allow a city to carry on going about its business,” said Stephen Graham, an academic and author of “Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism.”

Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed to this report.

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LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications

TAMPA/ANNECY, Aug 2: In a peace promoting effort a group of young Israelis and Palestinians from the University of Haifa have set off on a climbing mission on Mont Blanc. The expedition takes place between the 2nd and the 5th of August.

Mont Blanc is the symbol of the Annecy 2018 bid and is supported by the cities of Chamonix, Courmayeur and Haifa . Chamonix Mont-Blanc is one of the 2 selected areas in the French bid for the 2018 Winter Games.

The expedition is lead by Swiss mountaineer Jean Troillet who is famous for his record-breaking ascent of Mount Everest. It has been organized by the “Coexistences” association and supported by the bid to encourage the uniting of nations through sport.
 
Edgar Grospiron, ceo of the Annecy 2018 bid, said: “We are extremely proud of this historic initiative on the “Rooftop of Europe”...The Olympic Games carry a message of peace, solidarity and sharing between nations, thanks to sport and its values.

“We are proud that our area, candidate to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, as well as having a breathtaking natural landscape which has seduced great explorers, writers, and mountaineers over the centuries, has today become the stage, in symbolic terms, for the uniting of two nations in conflict. The values that our Olympic bid represent –excellence, fraternity, authenticity, sharing and hospitality – echo this unique initiative,”

“The whole of the Annecy 2018 team support you and wish you success in this sporting endeavour, and hope you enjoy this incredible adventure!”

The climbers have been training in Galilee for the past few months under the vigil eye of two experienced mountaineers: Israel’s Doron Erel and Olfat Haider from Palestine.

Following a week of acclimation at Val Ferret in Switzerland, the climbers will cross Aosta Valley at Courmayeur then head towards the Refuge des Cosmiques via the Glacier du Géant. They will then make their way up Mont Blanc via the “Voie des Trois Monts” to conclude the expedition at Chamonix, the birthplace of the winter Olympics.

Mountaineering requires a true sense of solidarity within a team and these students wish to demonstrate that in this instance there is fraternity between two nations in spite of the conflict, and that their comradeship is founded upon mutual trust. Sport can be used to bridge some of the widest barriers.

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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT / Sports Features Communications

SEOUL, Jul 22: Further domestic encouragement for PyeongChang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics has come from the South Korean government's initiative in support of the country's winter sports facilities and its athletes.

Around $1m is to be invested by the Korean Olympic Committee, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in launching a new training center in PyeongChang for athletes and in providing off-season training opportunities for snow sports including ski, biathlon, bobsleigh and skeleton.

The training center, capable of accommodating 500 athletes, will open at Gangwon Province’s Alpensia Resort this summer and then again from December to March 2011. Physical therapy rooms and exercise rooms overseen by KOC specialists will also be available for athletes.

Alpensia is one of the principal Olympic clusters in PyeongChang’s 2018 Games Plan and would be the location of the main Olympic Village and several competition venues.

Bid chairman and ceo Yang-Ho Cho said: “We thank the government for this significant investment which will improve our winter sports facilities, help to enhance our athletes’ performance and encourage greater interest and participation in winter sports in Korea and Asia.” 

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LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications 

TAMPA/ANNECY, July 19: Young superstar sprinter Christophe Lemaitre is the next athlete ambassador to throw his support behind the Annecy 2018 bid for the Winter Games.

The 20 year old has a rising career as he has already broken the 10 second barrier in the men’s 100 meter dash and now he looks to help the French bid cross the finish line.

The Annecy native obviously has his hometown at heart and believes in the power of bringing the Games to the Haute-Savoie region.

Lemaitre said, “I was born and raised in Annecy and today I am living my passion to the fullest here. Everyone in Annecy shares this same enthusiasm for sports. My dream is to see the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in my home town in 2018. It is sure to be a spectacular event that will inspire the young people of Annecy, France and the world to adopt sports as a veritable way of life.”

Annecy is in the bid race with PyeongChang, and Munich to host the winter Olympics in 2018. The final decision will be made at the IOC session next July 6th in Durban South Africa.

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KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications

LONDON/MUNICH, Jul 17: Willy Bogner has rejected suggestions of a crisis over Munich’s 2018 Winter Olympics bid. Bogner, bid ceo, was responding to media questions after claims of a disagreement over proposals for the involvement of nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The unique feature of the Munich bid is that, if it beat off competition from Annecy and PyeongChang when the IOC votes next July it would be the first city to have hosted both summer and winter Games. But that involves staging some ice events at Konigsee as well as Alpine events in Garmisch.

However a referendum in nearby Oberammergau rejected plans to use it as a centre for the cross-country and biathlon events and a similar referendum may yet be demanded in Garmisch.

The complications, in the current financial climate, had raised doubts over whether Munich can obtain guarantees for the essential funding and sponsorship. A further €3m was confirmed earlier this week, taking the total budget to €33m, albeit still short of the break-even target of €37m.

New questions about the direction of the bid were sparked by the announcement, at the end of last week and almost overshadowed by Germany’s performance at football’s World Cup, of a restructuring of the bid board. New arrivals are sports director Steffi Klein, communications head Jochen Färber and – arousing most interest - finance director Andreas Weinberger.

Bogner, ask if he had expected to meet resistance over the concept in general and revenue generation in particular, said: “No application of this sort has ever gone through without some sort of criticism and in total peace. But the Olympics are a world event and I believe there’s a significant consensus of opinion supporting our bid. People want the Games here.”

Further resources

The bid has circulated companies and governmental agencies in search of more funds but Bogner ignored a question about whether the bid was in financial danger.

He said: “It is clear that we cannot raise the entire amount from the present budget. We need a more solid financial base than we have now. We do not have a lot of time before the International Olympic Committee makes its decision and we still need to be sure of certain guarantees to cover possible shortfalls. But as soon as we have that bridging finance in place then there will be need to worry any further.”

Support for Bogner's confidence came from Bavaria's state president Horst Seehofer who said that further sponsors "were in the pipeline."

The bid book has to be submitted to the IOC on January 11.

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