Doping samples
The IOC is going to retest hundreds of doping samples from the 2008 Beijing games as part of a crackdown to catch cheaters. The IOC has retested a small amount of the 4,000 samples from the Beijing games already and now has a window of 10 years to retest doping samples under a new world anti-doping code. The old code limited doping testing to 8 years. The IOC hopes to retest the majority of the Beijing games samples before the statute of limitations runs out in 2018. The IOC realistically would like to test several high profile athletes competing in Rio in 2016. No positive tests have been found from any Beijing 2008 samples as of now.
Testing samples from the 2004 Athens games wrapped up in 2012 and five athletes were caught and stripped of their medals.
The IOC has already carried out retesting on a few samples from the 2010 Vancouver games and 2012 London games with no positive results. For the 2016 Rio games, the IOC will be testing roughly 5,000 and that number is the same number tested in London.
Boston 2024 Update
The USOC selected Boston as the US city to bid on the 2024 Summer Olympic games back in early January. Since then support for these games has been declining. In January 51% supported the bid and 33% disapproved. A poll was taken in February and those numbers slipped to 44% approve and 46 % disapprove. The last poll taken this month(March) with 36% approve and 52% disapprove. Boston 2024, the organization leading the bid, has agreed to a statewide referendum to take place in Nov. 2016. For the IOC to consider strongly the Boston bid, approval ratings need to be close to 70%. Hamburg, Germany has officially decided to bid on the 2024 games and Hamburg has approval ratings of 64%. Boston 2024 has said the bid will not go forward If the majority of statewide voters don't approve. They won't go forward if there is not a majority of voters approving the bid within the City of Boston itself. Boston has to submit their final bid to the IOC by January 2016. This means if the referendum fails the USOC will not be able to bid on the 2024 games at all.
Boston 2024 has an extensive public relations and social media/marketing campaign set up to try and stop the decline in poll numbers. Boston 2024 is led by John Fish. Fish is the CEO of Suffolk Construction. It is the largest construction company in the northeast.
There are several opposition groups that have formed. No Boston Olympics and No Boston 2024 are two of the groups. Bostonian's say they think they will be on the hook for cost overruns while Boston 2024 says there will be none. Opposition groups plan to talk to state legislators who could introduce legislation to make sure state taxpayers are not responsible for cost overruns. Boston 2024 has said that they won't submit a final bid if they cannot insure the bid against overruns. Boston 2024 has a 10 point plan of a cost effective, compact Olympics with temporary venues and plenty of jobs and housing created. Bostonian's do not want resources taken away from their city and are unsure about a transportation system that shut down several times during the winter of 2014/15.
Boston 2024 has said they have a plan to ease the concerns of Bostonians through 20 meetings spread out through Boston and the State of Massachusetts over the next several months. Boston 2024 will listen to concerns and change the bid to meet Bostonians needs.
Boston 2024 has recruited over 1,000 volunteers to fan out all over the city to pitch the 2024 Games to Bostonians.
The latest development is a rumor that the USOC might pull the bid on Boston 2024 soon if poll numbers don't go up. This was reported in a CNBC tweet. The USOC has denied the report.
Lastly, 2012 Olympian Jordyn Wieber has retired from gymnastics at the age of 19.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
500 Days Until Rio Games!
Today marks the 500th day until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games! The games will be held August 5-21 2016.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
IOC considers cutting track and field events from Olympics
In December 2014 when the IOC passed their Olympic 2020 agenda I was not aware that the IOC was thinking of cutting any events to cap the summer Olympics participants to 10,500 across 310 events for future Olympics. This story eluded me for two months until I read a tweet from Dwight Stones that the IOC is considering just that, cutting major track and field events in time for the Tokyo 2020 summer games. The events being considered being dropped are: 200M, 10000M, shot put, triple jump and 20K race walking. The IOC wants to cut 231 athletes from the 2,231 track athletes that competed at the 2012 London games, leaving 2000 athletes as a cap for track and field at future summer games. Track and Field has the most athletes competing with over 20% of all athletes participating at the summer games. This is so the IOC can add more sports like surfing and karate that suit younger viewers at future games.
I learned the 10000M event is being cut out from European meets so that may be ok for the IOC to cull along with any race walking events. The 200M is a marquee event and should not be tampered with along with the shot put and triple jump. I'm hoping the IAAF stands up to fight this injustice to the sport of track and field and the history of the Olympic Games.
I learned the 10000M event is being cut out from European meets so that may be ok for the IOC to cull along with any race walking events. The 200M is a marquee event and should not be tampered with along with the shot put and triple jump. I'm hoping the IAAF stands up to fight this injustice to the sport of track and field and the history of the Olympic Games.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Boston 2024!
The USOC has chosen Boston as the USA bid city to host the 2024 summer Olympic Games! Boston was chosen over Los Angeles, Washington and San Fransisco. Boston was chosen because of the frugality of their bid. Boston will depend upon area colleges to house Olympic athletes. Area colleges and universities in the Boston area will use venues built for the games after the games have finished. The USOC will submit Boston's bid by Sept. 2015. Other international cities that may bid on the 2024 summer Olympic Games are: Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Hamburg and Berlin Germany and finally Melbourne, Australia.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Olympic Updates
This blog has not been updated in 6 months.. Here are two major updates at the end of 2014.
Earlier this month - On Dec. 7 and 8 in Monaco, the Olympics 2020 agenda was passed unanimously by the IOC.
The biggest change would be the IOC allowing two cities within the host country to host the games, or two countries together can host the games. This was passed so smaller countries could host the games. It was also passed to lower the cost of future games.
A proposal was passed in the Olympics 2020 agenda to reform the bidding process. Bidding will be more like an invitation process, there will be less presentations made by games bidding cities to lower the cost, along with more costs incurred by the IOC related to this process. Cities are invited to present an Olympic bid that matches their economic and long term needs.
Sustainability of the bids will be stressed as several cities pulled out of the running to host the 2022 winter Olympic games because of cost. Emphasis on bids will appeal to cities that already have the facilities to host the games instead of the cost to build new facilities that rarely are used after the games by former host cities.
Also the IOC voted to cap the amount of Individual sport disciplines and athletes but allowing the number of sports to grow from the current 28 sports allowed.
An anti-discriminatory clause was updated to include sexual orientation in response to the Russian exclusion of gay athletes at the 2014 Sochi games.
An all Olympic channel will be launched at some time in the future.
The USOC has decided to bid on the 2024 summer Olympic games and the four host cities are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Boston. A decision on which USA city that will represent the USA in the bidding process on the 2024 Summer Olympic games will be made in January 2015. Each city made hour long presentations earlier this month. A decision by the IOC will come in 2017.
Earlier this month - On Dec. 7 and 8 in Monaco, the Olympics 2020 agenda was passed unanimously by the IOC.
The biggest change would be the IOC allowing two cities within the host country to host the games, or two countries together can host the games. This was passed so smaller countries could host the games. It was also passed to lower the cost of future games.
A proposal was passed in the Olympics 2020 agenda to reform the bidding process. Bidding will be more like an invitation process, there will be less presentations made by games bidding cities to lower the cost, along with more costs incurred by the IOC related to this process. Cities are invited to present an Olympic bid that matches their economic and long term needs.
Sustainability of the bids will be stressed as several cities pulled out of the running to host the 2022 winter Olympic games because of cost. Emphasis on bids will appeal to cities that already have the facilities to host the games instead of the cost to build new facilities that rarely are used after the games by former host cities.
Also the IOC voted to cap the amount of Individual sport disciplines and athletes but allowing the number of sports to grow from the current 28 sports allowed.
An anti-discriminatory clause was updated to include sexual orientation in response to the Russian exclusion of gay athletes at the 2014 Sochi games.
An all Olympic channel will be launched at some time in the future.
The USOC has decided to bid on the 2024 summer Olympic games and the four host cities are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Boston. A decision on which USA city that will represent the USA in the bidding process on the 2024 Summer Olympic games will be made in January 2015. Each city made hour long presentations earlier this month. A decision by the IOC will come in 2017.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Olympic updates
Some Olympic updates..
The IOC has awarded the broadcasting rights to NBC and its affiliates through the 2032 Olympic games. The extension took place in May. NBC previously had been awarded the Olympics through the 2020 games in Tokyo. In extending the rights of NBC to broadcast the 2022, 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032 Olympic games, the IOC shored up its financial future. NBC will pay 7.65 billion dollars for the games from 2021 to 2032. This includes internet streaming, mobile and subscription television as well..
The USOC has narrowed the USA bid cities to four in bidding on the 2024 summer Olympic games.
Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles are the final four cities. Dallas and San Diego were the last two cities eliminated. Now the USOC will weigh bids from these cities to narrow it to one city by 2017.
The IOC has awarded the broadcasting rights to NBC and its affiliates through the 2032 Olympic games. The extension took place in May. NBC previously had been awarded the Olympics through the 2020 games in Tokyo. In extending the rights of NBC to broadcast the 2022, 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032 Olympic games, the IOC shored up its financial future. NBC will pay 7.65 billion dollars for the games from 2021 to 2032. This includes internet streaming, mobile and subscription television as well..
The USOC has narrowed the USA bid cities to four in bidding on the 2024 summer Olympic games.
Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles are the final four cities. Dallas and San Diego were the last two cities eliminated. Now the USOC will weigh bids from these cities to narrow it to one city by 2017.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Sochi games - Final thoughts
The Sochi games are complete and I wanted to share some of my opinions of the games. Overall the medal count wasn't too bad for the USA. Russia won 4 medals on the games last day to stretch their medal lead over the USA from 2 to 5. Russia was first with 33 total medals and the USA was second with 28 total medals.
The USA did very well at snowboarding and slopestyle events winning 9 medals. Jamie Anderson won gold in women's slopestyle and Sage Kotsenberg won gold in men's slopestyle. Devin Logan won silver in women's slopestyle skiing, which is different than slopestyle where they use boards. Kaitlyn Farrington won gold and Kelly Clark won silver in women's halfpipe. In men's ski slopestyle the USA men swept the podium. Joss Christensen won gold, Gus Kenworthy won silver and Nick Goepper won bronze. Alex Deibold won bronze in men's snowboard cross.
Figure Skating was a mixed result as Meryl Davis/Charlie White win gold in Ice Dance over Virtue/Moir of Canada. Gracie Gold finished 4th after the short program and free skate to Russian gold medal winner Adelina Sotnikova. The controversy is she was seen hugging a Russian judge afterwards. Yuna Kim of Korea, who won gold in Vancouver had to settle for silver. Although it was explained that Sotnikova had a tougher program in the free skate than Kim, Sotnikova made a few minor mistakes on jumps while Kim did not make any. A petition was started at change.org and had well over a million people on it complaining of unfair, biased judging. Also Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds were steady but not spectacular, hence the 7th and 9th place performances. On the men's side, Jason Brown and Jeremy Abbott were good but also not spectacular, hence their 9th and 12th place finishes. The USA did win a team bronze medal, however. Meryl Davis and Charlie White were spectacular as were their Canadian rivals Virtue and Moir.
The USA did well in skiing as well with Ted Ligety winning gold in men's Giant Slalom and Mikaela Shiffrin winning gold in women's slalom. Julia Mancuso winning bronze in women's Super Combined Slalom and Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht winning bronze and silver, respectively in men's Super G.
It was a bit disappointing to see the USA lose 3 times to the Canadians in the games final days. Two were medals. Canada beat the USA in both men's and women's hockey and in women's 2 man bobsled. The high point of USA hockey was the USA men's team beat Russia 3-2 in a shootout. Russia thought they scored the game winning goal but it was not allowed because the goal was moved. After a scoreless overtime, T.J. Oshie scored on 4 of 6 shots in the shootout to win it for the USA.
A bit disappointing was that the USA women's team had a 2 goal lead on Canada and then Canada came back to beat the USA 3-2 in OT. to win gold. The USA had to settle for silver. The USA men's team lost to Finland 5-0 and finished 4th.
The USA won only one medal in speedskating while the Netherlands won over 20 speedskating medals. The USA won silver in the 5000M men's relay. J.R. Celski and Shani Davis mostly came away with no medals(Celski won 1 silver). There was a flap about the uniforms which were made by UnderArmour. The USA changed uniforms from the newer uniforms with an air vent to their older uniforms but it did not make much difference. I'd say it was mostly the athletes themselves than the uniforms which were also being furnished to the bobsledders, who did medal. Viktor Ahn, formerly of South Korea, now of Russia won several speedskating medals to tie Apolo Ohno at 8 speedskating medals a piece. A bit disappointing at the track.
As far as predictions go, I had predicted 38 total medals and 12 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze. I did get 12 bronze correctly. The USA had a shot at 12 gold with 3 days left and did not win any gold since. The USA has never won more than 10 gold in a Winter Olympics(2002 Salt Lake City). The USA has received 9 gold in each of the last 2 winter games. 38 total medals was out of reach by Day 5. I did not predict Russia coming in first in the total medal count. I predicted the USA would finish first in the total medal count, which did not happen(they finished second).
The Netherlands, Norway and Canada had great Olympics while Germany slipped a bit. This was Russia's Olympics in more ways than one.
NBC's coverage improved some over 2012 London. NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony was much less edited than the closing ceremony. While Bob Costas was out with pinkeye for a week Matt Lauer and Merideth Viera filled in nicely. NBC did show live events on The NBC Sports network and NBC showed live weekend events but taped figure skating for prime time. The last day of the games NBC showed a documentary of the 20th anniversary of the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan debacle which lasted for weeks. This was quite relevant and interesting because I had forgot some of the details of how it all went down. NBC did cut the closing ceremony to air a new show. The closing ceremony was heavily edited and came across as incomplete. Overall, NBC did a bit better job with their coverage at the Sochi games.
The USA did very well at snowboarding and slopestyle events winning 9 medals. Jamie Anderson won gold in women's slopestyle and Sage Kotsenberg won gold in men's slopestyle. Devin Logan won silver in women's slopestyle skiing, which is different than slopestyle where they use boards. Kaitlyn Farrington won gold and Kelly Clark won silver in women's halfpipe. In men's ski slopestyle the USA men swept the podium. Joss Christensen won gold, Gus Kenworthy won silver and Nick Goepper won bronze. Alex Deibold won bronze in men's snowboard cross.
Figure Skating was a mixed result as Meryl Davis/Charlie White win gold in Ice Dance over Virtue/Moir of Canada. Gracie Gold finished 4th after the short program and free skate to Russian gold medal winner Adelina Sotnikova. The controversy is she was seen hugging a Russian judge afterwards. Yuna Kim of Korea, who won gold in Vancouver had to settle for silver. Although it was explained that Sotnikova had a tougher program in the free skate than Kim, Sotnikova made a few minor mistakes on jumps while Kim did not make any. A petition was started at change.org and had well over a million people on it complaining of unfair, biased judging. Also Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds were steady but not spectacular, hence the 7th and 9th place performances. On the men's side, Jason Brown and Jeremy Abbott were good but also not spectacular, hence their 9th and 12th place finishes. The USA did win a team bronze medal, however. Meryl Davis and Charlie White were spectacular as were their Canadian rivals Virtue and Moir.
The USA did well in skiing as well with Ted Ligety winning gold in men's Giant Slalom and Mikaela Shiffrin winning gold in women's slalom. Julia Mancuso winning bronze in women's Super Combined Slalom and Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht winning bronze and silver, respectively in men's Super G.
It was a bit disappointing to see the USA lose 3 times to the Canadians in the games final days. Two were medals. Canada beat the USA in both men's and women's hockey and in women's 2 man bobsled. The high point of USA hockey was the USA men's team beat Russia 3-2 in a shootout. Russia thought they scored the game winning goal but it was not allowed because the goal was moved. After a scoreless overtime, T.J. Oshie scored on 4 of 6 shots in the shootout to win it for the USA.
A bit disappointing was that the USA women's team had a 2 goal lead on Canada and then Canada came back to beat the USA 3-2 in OT. to win gold. The USA had to settle for silver. The USA men's team lost to Finland 5-0 and finished 4th.
The USA won only one medal in speedskating while the Netherlands won over 20 speedskating medals. The USA won silver in the 5000M men's relay. J.R. Celski and Shani Davis mostly came away with no medals(Celski won 1 silver). There was a flap about the uniforms which were made by UnderArmour. The USA changed uniforms from the newer uniforms with an air vent to their older uniforms but it did not make much difference. I'd say it was mostly the athletes themselves than the uniforms which were also being furnished to the bobsledders, who did medal. Viktor Ahn, formerly of South Korea, now of Russia won several speedskating medals to tie Apolo Ohno at 8 speedskating medals a piece. A bit disappointing at the track.
As far as predictions go, I had predicted 38 total medals and 12 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze. I did get 12 bronze correctly. The USA had a shot at 12 gold with 3 days left and did not win any gold since. The USA has never won more than 10 gold in a Winter Olympics(2002 Salt Lake City). The USA has received 9 gold in each of the last 2 winter games. 38 total medals was out of reach by Day 5. I did not predict Russia coming in first in the total medal count. I predicted the USA would finish first in the total medal count, which did not happen(they finished second).
The Netherlands, Norway and Canada had great Olympics while Germany slipped a bit. This was Russia's Olympics in more ways than one.
NBC's coverage improved some over 2012 London. NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony was much less edited than the closing ceremony. While Bob Costas was out with pinkeye for a week Matt Lauer and Merideth Viera filled in nicely. NBC did show live events on The NBC Sports network and NBC showed live weekend events but taped figure skating for prime time. The last day of the games NBC showed a documentary of the 20th anniversary of the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan debacle which lasted for weeks. This was quite relevant and interesting because I had forgot some of the details of how it all went down. NBC did cut the closing ceremony to air a new show. The closing ceremony was heavily edited and came across as incomplete. Overall, NBC did a bit better job with their coverage at the Sochi games.
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