United States International Games News

Last month organizers of the Arctic Winter Games were very pleased to learn that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens had found a way to include $500,000 to the defense appropriations bill, earmarked for security and communications for the 2006 Arctic Winter Games.

Soldotna Mayor Dave Carey told the Kenai Peninsula Online newspaper "We found out on Friday that the $500,000 coming to the Arctic Winter Games from (the Department of Defense) was to be used to reimburse DOD."

The Department of Defense is helping with security for the games. The half a million dollars is evidently to pay for that security, not on top of that security being provided.

Special Olympics organizers in Bosnia and Herzegovina have announced that Sarajevo will not be hosting the 2009 Special Olympics Winter World Games.

Sarajevo was awarded the games in March of 2005, during the last Winter Games in Nagano.

The news was known by Special Olympics International in December, but not made public or published on their web site.

News sources in Idaho have announced that Boise, Idaho, at first interested in a run at the 2013 games, are now very interested in bidding for the 2013 games.

According to the Idaho Statesman local Idaho Special Olympics supporters Jim and Pirie Grossman were interested in proposing a 2013 World Games bid when they ran into Maria Shriver at a Christmas party in Sun Valley. Shriver broke the news that Bosnia and Herzegovina had recently dropped out as hosts, and suggested that Idaho look at the possibility of bidding for the 2009 games.

The Idaho Statesman has reported that there may be bids from Poland, Germany, and possibly, the Reno, Lake Tahoe region in Nevada, hosts of the 1989 games.

Bid proposals must be ready by March 3rd, and the new host is scheduled to be chosen by the end of May.

The United States federal government has granted "Designated Event Status" to this summers' Gay Games in Chicago, meaning that for the period of July 8-28, 2006, persons traveling to the games will not have to disclose their HIV status before entering the country.

Since 1993 the United States has required that people with HIV disclose their status before entering the United States.

Gay Games organizers have worked since the time the games were pulled from Montreal and awarded to Chicago to gain the waiver. Montreal is hosting its own games, the Outgames, and has used the restrictions in their marketing strategy, telling potential participants that Canada has no such restrictions and will be easier to get to.

New York was granted the "Designated Event Status" for the Gay Games in 1994, but just a few weeks before the games. Chicago organizers are hoping that the sixth month advance notice will increase participation.

The Winter X Games will stay in Aspen, Colorado for another three years, with the announcement today of the signing of an agreement between Aspen Skiing Co. and ESPN.

The current agreement had the games in Aspen until 2007. The three year extension means that ESPN intends to keep the games in Aspen until 2010.

ESPN reportedly had offers from ski resorts in California, Canada and Europe, but chose to stay with Aspen. The games have never been held outside the United States, with this years event being the tenth edition. The games have been hosted in Aspen since 2002.

With just under sixty days to go until the opening of the 2006 Arctic Winter Games, games organizers on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska are smiling with the news that one of their state Senators, Ted Stevens, has found a way to work half a million dollars worth of funding for the games into a newly passed defense spending bill. The money is supposed to be earmarked for security and communications for the games, and frees up other money to be used elsewhere in the games budget.

Last month, pleas from organizers for more sponsorship brought in almost $200,000 in cash and services from Avis Alaska, Marathon Oil Corp., Agrium Inc. Shell Oil, and the Canadian consulate.

Vice president and general manager of ESPN Outdoors Christine Godleski said the plan for now is to "take a break and assess what we need to do to make the Great Outdoors Games bigger and better than ever."

During the process ESPN will evaluate how it chooses sites for the games, decide the best time of year for the games, and what events to include in the games.

The games have been held annually beginning in Lake Placid from 2001 until 2003, the games were then held in Reno, NV; Madison, WI and last summer in Orlando, FL at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex.

With the cancellation also comes the cancellation of dozens of qualifying events, as well as contests by sponsors Dodge, Stihl and ESPN that were giving away trips to the 2006 games (but had not named the destination).

On the same day that ESPN announced it would not be holding the games in 2006, SportsTravel magazine announced that the 2004 edition of the Great Outdoor Games had been named the Best Professional Multi-Sport or Multi-Discipline Event award for the year, in a vote by its readers.

The event unfortunately was not met with complete acceptance by the residents of Madison, mostly over the use of guns in the games, and the event did not return to Madison a second time.

The Great Outdoor Games has also won Emmy Awards for television sports coverage.

The Kentucky Horse Park, in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, has been chosen over Normandy, France as the host for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

A third bidder, the United Arab Emirates, had been eliminated from consideration before the final presentations this week.

The games encompass seven equestrian disciplines; dressage, driving, endurance riding, eventing, reining, show jumping and vaulting, This will be the first time the games will have been held in the United States, and the first time the games will all be held in one venue, with all of the events held at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Preliminary figures are calling for 800 riders, 1000 horses from 50 countries, with television coverage in 180 countries.

John Nicholson, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Park was head of the delegation bidding for the games at FEI meetings in Bahrain, with support from John Long, the CEO of the United States Equestrian Federation.

The State of Kentucky and Governor Ernie Fletcher have pledged strong support for the games.

The Kentucky Horse Park plans to build a new $30 million indoor equestrian arena and a 300 room hotel for the games.

News sources in Australia are reporting that FOX has purchased the rights to show the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games in the United States in March.

This will be the first time that the games will be available in the United States (other than to a limited number of US citizens close to the Canadian border who in past games were able to access CBC.)

The games are to be available on FOX pay-TV channels and should include some live events and a daily highlights show.

Melbourne 2006 officials have been pushing to have the games shown in as many nations as possible. Included on the list of nations scheduled to televise the games are Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, the Philippines and Uzbekistan. Negotiations with India are still pending.

Ironically, with the Commonwealth Games being televised for the first time in the United States, Canadians are set to miss out because Canadian broadcasters, including the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) Canada's national network, have all so far passed on the games. The CBC will be televising the curling world championships and Paralympic Games in March.

Barely two weeks after the devastating Hurricane that knocked the City of New Orleans on its back, the JCC Maccabi Games organizers have taken New Orleans off the list of sites for the 2006 JCC Games. Organizers announced last week, on September 13th, that they would be searching for a new location and hope to make that announcement very soon.

JCC Maccabi games are typically held in four locations across the US and Canada each summer. Sites for 2006 had been listed as Phoenix, Arizona; Stamford Connecticut; Vancouver, British Columbia, and New Orleans.

With the vast majority of the citizens of New Orleans evacuated to other locations, no planning would have been able to proceed for the games.

Citing a winter Games schedule that is "already too full" OLN has decided not to go through with the 2006 Winter Gravity Games.

OLN purchased the rights to the games in 2004 and revived the winter games in 2005. They had previously only been held in 2000.

The International Children's Games Executive Committee has selected San Francisco as the host of the 2008 International School Children's games.

About 3,500 athletes, coaches and other participants from 60 nations are expected to participate in the games schedule for July 11-15, 2008.

Proposed sports are basketball, golf, track and field, tennis, swimming, soccer, table tennis, and volleyball.

SBC Park is the probable venue for the Opening Ceremonies with Golden Gate Park, the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University serving as sport venues.

2008 will be the 40th anniversary of the games established in 1968, and just the second time the games will have been held in the United States, after Cleveland in 2004.

While the city of New Orleans, Louisiana has never held a major international games, the city is scheduled to host one of the four JCC Maccabi Youth Games in 2006 from July 30-Aug. 4, 2006. Stamford, Connecticut, Phoenix, Arizona and Vancouver, British Columbia are scheduled to host the other three.

With the upheaval from Katrina, it isn't known at this time if the New Orleans can recover in time to host the event.

New Orleans held the 1990 National Veterans Wheelchair Games, and just last month, the AAU Junior Olympic Games from July 25th to August 7th.

OLN (Outdoor Life Network) has announced that Philadelphia will be the host of the 2005 Summer Gravity Games.

The Philadelphia portion of the games will be at FDR Skatepark in South Philadelphia from July 11 to July 13.

The games move from Cleveland which hosted the games the past three years, averaging over 150,000 spectators each year.

ESPN and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) are finalizing details that will have the X Games in Los Angeles for the next five years at the Staples Center and Home Depot Center, both owned by AEG.

ESPN is hoping that having the games grounded in one location will eliminate the time, energy and cost of moving the games from city to city, an exhausting undertaking for such a large event.

Disappointment, acrimony and finger pointing seem to be all that is left from the proposed Pacific Rim Sports Summit that was to be held in Seattle, June 7-12.

Seattle organizing committee members are pointing fingers at the USOC, claiming non support of the event. Northwest newspapers are pointing their fingers at promoter Bob Walsh, who may have seen his reach exceed his grasp on this endeavor. The USOC is denying responsibility for the cancellation of the event.

After summer of 2004 announcement that the games would be held in the summer of 2005, with the possibility of a 2006 event in China and a 2007 event back in Seattle, the concept never really seemed to gather the momentum to become a reality.

Inability to meet financial and sponsorship goals and slow ticket sales were said to be the primary reasons for pulling the plug on the event.

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times is reporting that the new Pacific Rim Sports Summit planned for Seattle in June will most likely be reduced in size in the coming days.

The United States Olympic Committee has preliminarily invited athletes from China, Canada, Mexico Japan, Russia, Korea, New Zealand and Australia to compete in archery, basketball, cycling, diving, gymnastics, track, synchronized swimming, softball and volleyball.

One primary motivation for the events is to create an exchange with Chinese athletes prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Organizers would not confirm rumors that ticket sales had not been strong for the event, or that Seattle had had difficulty procuring contracts for some of the venues, but did say the event would be reduced.

The budget for the event is about $12 million, all to be provided by private sponsorship

Seattle organizing committee representative Karen Russell said, "We would like to emphasize that the Summit has not been canceled." "We fully intend to proceed with a multi-sport, international event in Seattle this summer."

The Gorge Games have reportedly been laid to rest, according to news reports quoting the games founder Peggy Lalor last week.

Lalor had ongoing difficulties finding sponsorship for the games and has decided not to move forward with another edition.

The games were held in Hood River Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge on an almost annual basis since 1995.

Plans were announced last year to expand the games into a year-round event, with a traveling health and fitness expo, and to create regional games in Europe, Asia and South America from 2006 to 2008.

Organizers were hoping for a sponsor to sign a multi-year contract, but decided to close the games when none could be found.

Stihl Chainsaws, a sponsor of the ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, has published a news release stating that ESPN has chosen Orlando, Florida as the host of the 2005 Great Outdoor Games.

The games are reportedly scheduled for July 7-10 in Orlando, with some events to be held at the Walt Disney Resort sports complex in Orlando.

ESPN officials announced Monday that they were pulling the Great Outdoor Games out of Madison, stating the city has failed to offer enough money to keep the event in Wisconsin.

Spokespeople for the Mayor's office of Madison, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, and the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, said they all felt that they had offered ESPN enough incentive to bring the games to Madison for a second year in a row.

Cleveland's Channel 5 news has reported that both both Cleveland's Public Safety Director, Sanford Watson, and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association are investigating why several police officers, assigned to work security at the Cleveland International Children's Games, didn't show up for work. Written explanations from each officer will be required.

The police union also filed a grievance that not enough of their police officers were assigned overtime duty for the games.

The Conventions, Tourism, Entertainment Industry and Business Enterprise
Committee of the Los Angeles City Council today passed a motion that would ask the permanent Southern California Olympics Organizing Committee to investigate bidding for the 2032 Olympic Games.

The proposal would be less than San Diego Union Tribune writer Nick Canepa's suggestion last month that cited the logistical and financial successes of both the 1932 and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and suggested, somewhat tongue in cheek, that Los Angeles be made the permanent host of the Olympic Games.

Canepa wrote, "If the Games are to continue, Los Angeles is the only hope. The ideal spot. L.A. may not know how to do NFL, but it can do Olympics. It wouldn't need much. Like in 1984, it has everything in place needed to play host, even
more now than it did then, in fact."

"L.A. loves the Olympics. The Olympics love L.A. The five-ring bearers should see these two get to the altar of Zeus and join in everlasting wedlock."

2032 would be the centennial anniversary of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, if still standing in 2032, would be well over one hundred years old, having first been opened and used in 1923.

The Summer Gravity Games return to Cleveland Ohio for the 3rd straight year. The games will happen September 15-19 and be shown on TV by the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) on September 20-25th. September 20th will be a two hour preview show for the games, with 2004 action the 21st through 25th. Skateboarding, BMX and Freestyle Motocross are featured.

Perth, Australia will host the first edition of Gravity Games H2O featuring water sports, in October. Games dates are October 14-17, with television coverage not scheduled until November 15-16. Wakeboarding, Kitesurfing and a Tow-In Surfing are all on the agenda in Perth with AUS$140,000 in prize money available. The Gravity Games festival, with live music and interactive gravity games sports exhibits for spectators will also be in Perth.

A venue for the talked about upcoming 2005 Winter Gravity Games is yet to be named.

Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco and Rhode Island have all contacted ESPN about the possibilities of hosting the next two X Games. ESPN, to date, has established a tradition of giving the games to a city for two years in a row.

Rhode Island, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles have all hosted the games before.

ESPN and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owners of the Staples Center and Home Depot Center) are discussing keeping the games in Los Angeles for at least one more year, but are said to be still in contract discussions.

The decision on the host for the next games is not scheduled to be made for several weeks.

At X Games X in Los Angeles this week, ESPN has decided to have far more events on "live" television, than in any previous year. The problem? The definition of a "live" event. Spectators at this evening's games were treated to delay after delay, in both the Skateboard Vert and Moto X Best trick events, as ESPN held up the event on several occasions.

Rather than televise the event, as it ran, the event was paused or stopped for television breaks in between each Vert run or Moto X jump, which severely dampened the vibe inside Staples Center. One fan in the arena was spotted sleeping during the last round of Moto X.

Skateboard fans saw 20 runs of 45 seconds each, over a two and a half hours, while Moto X fans saw 20 jumps, which took about 5 seconds each, in about 70 minutes.

Fans were treated to a second "encore" jump by Travis Pastrana, after his second round jump, simply because there was so much time.

Chuck Carothers won the Moto X Best Trick event, with a spectacular new - so far unnamed - trick. He started with a Superman, released from the bike with a small push on the seat, and spun or rolled his body a 360, and then got back on the bike, grabbing the handlebars and landed the jump. Carothers credited Travis Pastrana for helping with the trick, saying that Pastrana had allowed Carothers to use Pastrana's foam pit in Maryland for a whole month earlier this summer to practice. Carothers said he has been practicing the maneuver for two years now, and broke several bones trying.

Before the attempt, Pastrana could be seen in the landing area, excitedly gesturing to a reporter, approximating the moves that Carothers was about to attempt.

This was the high point of the night for the fans, who cheered wildly as the scoreboard big screen played Carothers' jump over and over, in slow motion.

On the other hand, surprisingly, fans are quickly becoming ho-hum about the backflip. A trick that was deemed nearly impossible on a motorcycle just a few years ago, and was first pulled by Mike Metzger at the X Games in Philadelphia in 2002, was thrown by six riders in a row in warmups tonight.

The riders, however, are adding more and more to their backflips, with releases, seat-grabs, can-cans and heel-clickers.

Had the competition been run in a reasonable amount of time, the quality of jumps was great, but the breaks in competition cooled off the enthusiasm.

On the vert ramp, Bucky Lasek won yet another X Games gold medal with a fine run. The skateboard ramp this year has an enclosed bowl on one end, which looks fine on television, but is hard to see when inside the arena.

Word is that seasoned skaters like Bob Burnquist have been practicing hard on the super Big Air ramp out in the Staples Center parking lot, and are having a bit of trouble getting the feel and speed of the ramp. Burnquist looked somewhat tired in his runs this evening, but the competition on Sunday should be spectacular.

Last year's events from the Staples Center, the Coliseum and the Downhill BMX from Woodward West were fantastic. Let's hope ESPN's version of "live" TV won't interrupt the rest of this weekend's events.

Highlighting the theme of freedom, President Bush welcomed athletes from all over the world to the opening ceremony of the International Children's Games in Cleveland, Ohio yesterday, and gave special mention to a girls soccer team from Afghanistan.

" We're glad every country is represented. I think it's especially interesting and an especially poignant and uplifting moment that young girls are here from the country of Afghanistan. Because your country is free, you are here. Because your country is free, many of you can go to school for the first time," the President said. Afghanistan is participating for the first time in the International Children's Games.

The President was introduced by Matt Ghaffari, a 1996 silver medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling, who moved to the United States from Iran with his family in 1977 when he was 16 years old.

The International Children's Games also include a cultural festival, with performers from around the world.

About 2200 athletes, ages 12-15, from 130 cities in 55 countries are being represented at this years event, participating in, athletics (track and field), baseball, basketball, football (soccer), gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, and water polo.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) is providing security support for the games.

Earlier in the week, David Gilbert, director of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, said, "It is important to the United States that we have these kinds of peaceful and meaningful interactions with countries with whom we have political differences."

United States President George Bush will help open the International Children's Games in Cleveland, Ohio on July 30th, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting.

The presidential welcome has not been officially confirmed but the Plain Dealer says that reliable sources are saying that plans are set for the visit

The Plain Dealer quoted David Gilbert, the president of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, saying, "It's a major international event, taking place for the first time in the United States." "We thought it would be the proper thing to do to invite the president of the United States."

Kentucky has announced that it will try again to earn the right to host the World Equestrian Games. Kentucky lost out to Aachen, Germany for the 2006 Games.

Declarations of intent to bid are due July 15, with final bids due October 15, 2004. Other bids are expected from Normandy, France; Melbourne, Australia; and the United Arab Emirates.

Spruce Meadows, on the outskirts of Calgary, Canada, and England have both abandoned bids for this edition of the games, Canada in November of last year, citing the awarding of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to Vancouver as a conflict, and England earlier this month citing lack of resources and the need to focus on other commitments.

US Equestrian officials looked at six sites around the US before deciding in July of last year, that the Kentucky Horse Park is the only location where all of the WEG events could be held in one place.

The Kentucky bid proposal is expected to include building a $30 million dollar indoor equestrian arena and a 300 room hotel at the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Kentucky Horse Park opened in 1978 and is home to the National Horse Center, the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation, the International Museum of the Horse, Hall of Champions, an arboretum, Man O'War Memorial and this month, a memorial to Secretariat will be unveiled.

News reports from Jamaica claim that nation is holding a Special Olympics Caribbean Games this week, but the event is not mentioned on the calendar at the Special Olympics International web site.

Swimming, athletics, football, bocce and cricket are on the agenda with 14 nations expected to attend,

In bid news for future Special Olympics World Games, the Denver Sports Commission web site mentions that Denver is contemplating a bid for the 2009 Special Olympics Winter World Games.

The Seattle Sports Commission web site goes several steps further, mentioning the possibility of bids for both the 2009 Special Olympics Winter World Games, the 2011 Special Olympics Summer World Games.

The North American Indigenous Games Council has removed the right to host the 2005 North American Indigenous Games from the city of Buffalo, New York, citing, "the lack of documentation regarding the Buffalo Sports Society's progress in delivering the games."

The announcement was made three months ago and distributed in several places in the indigenous press, but the news was not circulated widely in the general press. Buffalo, through the Buffalo Sports Society, was awarded the games in December 2002, after the other finalist for the bid, Oklahoma, did not make a final presentation.

The Council considered plans to find another host for the games, with one option being that another group in Buffalo would take over the organizational duties of the games, and host the next edition in 2006.

Other options were to open up the bidding again to cities in both Canada and the United States for 2006, or postpone the next games until 2008. The council decided to re-open the bid process for 2006, citing the precedent that the 1999 games were also canceled meaning that many athletes were too old to compete in the age-restricted games by the time the next games were held in 2002.

Regina, Saskatchewan and Victoria, B.C, and the University of Windsor, in Windsor, ON, are interested in bidding for the 2008 games, but none have said they could be ready to host games in 2006.

Paul Ramsey, writing in the Ontario Birchbark, the Aboriginal newspaper of Ontario, reported that the negotiations between the NAIG Council and Buffalo Sports Society (BSS) became very tense after Buffalo missed several deadlines for paperwork and deadlines for certain required organizational planning deadlines imposed by the NAIG. BSS had threatened to sue the NAIG so that they would not disclose details of work that they had done on the bid, fearing that other groups in Buffalo might possibly use that information for a competing bid. BSS has also threatened a lawsuit for a court injunction that would "prevent any other group from hosting the games in Buffalo or anywhere else in the United States in the next three to six years."

Los Angelenos enjoyed their day with the Athens Olympic Torch, which landed in the early morning hours from Mexico City and was relayed through LA from Venice Beach, through Hollywood, to the Los Angeles Coliseum, and ended up with the ceremonial lighting of a cauldron at Dodger Stadium.

Sylvester Stallone was the first to carry the 2004 Athens Olympic Torch in the US when it arrived in Los Angeles, and the star theme continued with Olympians Rafer Johnson, John Naber, Janet Evans, Anita de Frantz, and movie stars such as Tom Cruise.

The Seattle PI is reporting the Seattle Organizing Committee, the group led by Bob Walsh, which had early designs on a 2012 Olympic bid and also organized the 1990 Goodwill Games, has announced plans for a multisport festival next summer. The committee is talking to the USOC about organizing the games, and NBC about televising the games, but no definite plans have been confirmed.

The event would also include an international arts festival, a cultural component and a major health summit.

The suggested name for the event is the USA-China Invitational, subtitled, "The Road to Beijing." The United States and China would be the main entrants, similar to the Goodwill Games in which the majority of participants were from the US and the Soviet Union. Other participants from around the Pacific Rim would also be invited.

The PI reports that the Seattle Organizing Committee has letters from both the Chinese Olympic Committee and the US Olympic committee, noting their "commitment to participate."

Plans are for the event to be about half the size of the 1990 Goodwill Games, which had just over 2300 participants.

The 2005 edition would be over four days in June, with options for the event to expand in 2006 and 2007.

Speedskating is one of the sports being talked about for the event. That would seem to be a detour on "The Road to Beijing," as speedskating is not a summer Olympic event, but would be included on the schedule to feature Apolo Anton Ohno, a Seattle native.

The Seattle City Council killed Seattle's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, well before Seattle could even be considered by the USOC as the US choice for the games. Citizen opposition to spending, and plans for the Olympic village, and an organizing committee that did not think it needed community support were instrumental in killing the bid.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper reports that the organizers of the International Children's Games are asking for more volunteers. Only 40 percent of the expected volunteers for the games have signed up, with just seven weeks to go until the games.

Volunteers must be 16 or older and all volunteer applicants must pass an FBI background check.

The games are expected to draw some 3000 athletes from 60 nations and are being held from July 26 to August 3.

X Games X will stay in Los Angeles, but some events will change venues this year and there will be some changes in the format of competition.

This year should have fewer competitors, as the rules are being changed so that in most events preliminary events have been eliminated. 10 competitors will be allowed for each event, with the exception of surfing, which will have teams of 10.

Two new events have been added to this years games, supermoto and skateboard big air.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will not host the Motocross events this year. Motocross freestyle, best trick, step-up, Supermoto, and bicycle dirt stunt will now be held in the new soccer stadium at the Home Depot Center.

Other events and venues will remain roughly the same, with skateboarding, in- line skating and BMX at the Staples Center, surfing at Huntington Beach and Wakeboarding at the long beach Marina.

ESPN and ABC will televise many of the events live each night, and ESPN SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn will be on site.

Jewish Community Centers are getting ready for this summer's JCC Maccabi Youth Games, which are scheduled to be held in four locations.

Austin, Texas will hold the first games of the summer from August 1-6, with one of the busiest schedules with thirteen sports.

Rockville Maryland, near Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio, will host games the following week, from August 8-13. (The 13th is scheduled to be the day of the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Athens).

The final JCC Maccabi Games of the year will be in Boston, from August 15-20, and organizers are expecting, participants from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Venezuela, and Israel.

The JCC Maccabi events will incorporate a "Star Reporter" component this year, where young participants can be part of the team, with all of the team benefits, with the responsibility to serve as junior journalists for the games.

The Jewish Community Centers have also announced that Richmond, St. Paul and San Antonio will be the three sites of the 2005 JCC Maccabi Games.

Two cities, Rome and St. Petersburg, have been mentioned as candidates for the 2007 European Maccabi Games.

Police in Madison, Wisconsin have given ESPN permission to go ahead and hold the shooting events for the Great Outdoor Games in Quann Park, despite protests from neighborhood groups in the area.

The Capitol Times reports that acting Police Chief Noble Wray granted the application after meeting with ESPN and city and county officials

Protesters did win a few concessions. A few minor changes will have to be made to the venue to enhance safety and the events will end at 10:00 pm, and not 10:30 as was originally scheduled. The police were the first to deny the application, primarily because they wanted to make certain that safety issues had been addressed

Another paper, the Wisconsin State Journal asked organizers of last years event in Reno about safety. The marketing director for the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, Deanna Ashby, said "Their safety precautions were of the upmost," Ashby said. "Those guys run a top-of-the-line event."

Madison Alderman Matt Sloan, a leader in the protest, was disappointed that the application had been granted, calling the action, "clearly an instance where the city of Madison's process really let a neighborhood down."

After the decision was announced, protesters told Beth Johnson of the Wisconsin State Journal of their plans to continue the protest, including wearing dog costumes and climbing fences in an attempt to "take back the park" during the games. Other neighbors said that they would record the sounds of the guns shooting during the competition and play then back, with speakers pointed back towards the park.

Channel 3 news and the Madison Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin are reporting on a mild protest over one of the shooting venues for this summers Great Outdoor Games in Madison.

Neighbors near Quann Park, one of the largest parks in Madison at 80 acres where the shooting events are to be held, have taken to calling the events "sharpshooting" (rather than by the term target sports used by ESPN) and want the events moved, saying that shooting doesn't belong in city parks.

Quann Park borders the Alliant Energy Center where the rest of the Great Outdoor Events are to be held. The park is in the City of Madison, and the Alliant Energy Center is in the Town of Madison. If the City of Madison does not provide the permit, ESPN is negotiating with the Town of Madison for clearance to move the shooting venue about 200 yards onto the Alliant Energy Center premises.

The City of Madison's Mayor, Dave Cieslewiscz agree with the neighbors, and Alderman Matt Sloan is working to change the gun permitting ordinance in Madison, to allow public input. Currently the decision is up to the Chief of Police.

Channel 3 quotes Ron Vincent, president of Wisconsin Sports Development Corp. saying "ESPN's just a little bit disappointed that the city of Madison and the bureau of tourism were all on board to bring it here and now when it comes up to get a gun permit to put on the event, somebody's just not stepping up and saying, this is good for Madison."

ESPN, which has made it a pattern to hold games in one location for more than one year, has reportedly stated that the hassle is making them consider not returning to Madison next year.

ESPN and City of Madison police and are scheduled to meet next week to go over the issue.

The Pan American Sport Organization (PASO) will meet in San Antonio, Texas next week, with the PASO executive committee meeting April 19-20, and the PASO general assembly meeting April 21-23.

The US Olympic Committee has invited representatives from all nine of the cities bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games to attend the meetings.

Members of the San Antonio Sports Foundation say they are still interested in the city of San Antonio pursuing a bid for the 2011 Pan American Games, a decision that will probably be made sometime in the summer of 2006.

The Texas State Legislature in June of last year amended a bill that was first enacted in 1999, that provides legislative support for any bid for the Olympic or Pan American games by any Texas city with a population over 850,000. The original 1999 bill gave specific support for a 2007 Pan American Games bid. The amendment changed the bill to read that the legislature supports a Texas city bidding for the 2011 Pan American Games. The bill also continues a Pan American Games Trust Fund that was established in 1999.

The measure also requires that the state comptroller provide an estimate of the amount of money that would be in the Pan American Games trust fund to any committee bidding for a games, so that they can use that figure when applying to host a games.

The Texas House of Representatives voted 126 to 0, with two abstentions, in favor of the measure.

The United State Olympic Committee has determined legal basis to prevent synchronized swimmer Tammy Crow from being on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team.

Crow qualified for the team, despite being recently convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a car accident in February of 2003 that killed her boyfriend and one of his students. Crow also broke her arm and back in the accident, but recovered in time to qualify for the Olympic team. The judge gave Crow a three month suspended sentence, to begin after the Athens Games, so that she could continue to train and compete with the team.

Questions had arisen as to whether having an athlete convicted of a crime would reflect poorly on the team or the USOC.

The USOC's executive committee agreed that having Crow on the team was " not in violation of the USOC's code of conduct or its constitution, the Olympic charter or amateur sports law. "

The International Law Enforcement Games are changing their name, and eligibility parameters. Moving forward, the games will be known as the International Police and Fire Games (not to be confused with the World Police and Fire Games, held in odd numbered years) and will include law enforcement officers and firefighters.

This years International Police and Fire Games will be held in Las Vegas, August 5-15, and the 2006 games, Jogos Internacionais de Polícia e Bombeiros, have been awarded to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The USOC and the Atlanta Sports Council have set the dates for the 2004 Titan Games for June 18-20, just 106 days away. The games are timed to be going on when the Olympic Torch arrives in Atlanta.

It was also announced that the USOC and Atlanta Sports Council have a three-year agreement for the games, opening the possibility for 2005 and 2006 Titan Games to also be held in Atlanta.

US Olympians will square off against athletes from other nations in boxing, fencing, judo, karate, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling in Philips Arena, 1 20,000 seat arena opened in September 1999 (and not an Olympic venue) and a shot put competition in Centennial Olympic Park. Last years event was held in a 4500 seat arena in San Jose.

Home Depot will be the presenting sponsor for this years games and Adidas, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Georgia-Pacific and Georgia Power are also backing the games to the tune of $1.4 million.

Atlanta is expecting big things from the relatively small games. Gary Stokan, of the Atlanta Sports Council has stated that the Titan Games will have the "largest convergence of Summer Olympic athletes in the United States since the '96 Olympics." Last years Titan Games were reported to have about 200 participants. The Goodwill Games in New York City in 1998, with plenty of Olympians in attendance, had 1300 athletes from 60 nations competing in 15 sports.

The sparring between Gay Games factions reached new heights (or lows) this week, prolonging the acrimonious, months-long debate over the future of the movement as both sides waged a public relations battle for public opinion.

On March 1, the day before the Federation of Gay Games announced they were choosing Chicago as the new 2006 Gay Games host, the organizers of Montreal's Rendez-Vous 2006, the unofficial games for gays that lost the sanction of the FGG, fired another shot in the war by releasing a press statement attacking the FGG for seeking to "deliberately divide the American gay community."

The inflammatory release said that the decision to hold the Gay Games two weeks before the Montréal games is irresponsible, and will force participants to choose one over the other, and that Montréal had asked any future organizers of the next Gay Games to postpone them until 2007.

The release went on to say that the Montréal organizers felt a duty to warn any city chosen by the FGG that it was being lured into a trap by the FGG, as the FGG would not share any of the financial burden of the games, while requiring a license fee of several hundred thousand dollars. The release concluded that the FGG had negotiated with Montréal in bad faith.

The following day, the FGG released its own announcement that they had chosen Chicago over Los Angeles as host of the official 2006 Gay Games.

The announcement included statements of support for the games from Canada, Australia and Germany, as well as support from several sources in Chicago.

The FGG release made no mention of any events in Montreal, but stated that launch parties for the 2006 games in Chicago would be held all over the globe in the next two months.

While the two factions fought privately and publicly, Jim Provenzano of the Dallas Voice, in a February 27 article, asked readers if Montréal had not been honest in its negotiations with the FGG.

Provenzano revealed that the Montréal 2006 organizers had, in August of last year, applied to trademark the term "Rainbow Games" through their attorney and Montréal 2006 Board member Marie Laure Leclercq.

Provenzano surmises that the application may be an indication that Montréal 2006 never intended to conclude negotiations with the FGG, so as to not have to pay the $650,000 license fee, a proposition the Montréal 2006 vehemently and categorically denies.

Provenzano quotes Richard Cobden, an attorney on the FGG side stating. "Many hours were spent, many options explored to accommodate Montréal’s demands. There was not one position they adopted that the FGG did not try to accommodate” and “I have never participated in a negotiation in which the other side has behaved in quite so dishonorable or devious a fashion.” The FGG contends that Montréal 2006 was not willing to concede or negotiate on a single point.

Provenzano also reveled that Equipe Montréal had been using the FGG database to email athletes (and was suspended from the FGG for this action). Montréal 2006 denies using the list, saying that they collected emails addresses directly from athletes while in Sydney. The replies from the FGG is that this does not account for emails being sent to special email addresses and aliases, not associated with real people, that Sydney organizers had set up to test and safeguard their list.

On top of all of this, a three-time participant in the games from Germany, Andreas Wellauer, writes in the March edition of The Advocate, that no city on the United States should host the Gay Games based on restrictive immigration requirements related to visas and HIV status.

Wellauer argues that it is not possible to hold the Gay Games in the United States without violating the principles of global inclusion, equality, and integration espoused by the games.

Wellauer writes that watching participants from India and Pakistan -nations without the friendliest of relations in the past- walk into the opening ceremonies hand-in-hand proved that " gays and lesbians are able to transcend national, political, ethnic, and religious boundaries.

The Federation of Gay Games voted yesterday and announced this morning their choice of Chicago over Los Angeles as the "presumptive host" of the 2006 Gay Games. The presumption is based on the host organization signing the games contract with the FGG, but negotiations are said to be almost complete and the contracts are expected to be signed at the end of the month.

Chicago was chosen because its bid had solid community support, a good financial plan, and an "international vision" according to Federation officials. Chicago Games Inc. has said that they will change the structure and approach of financing the games, to avoid the financial difficulties that have plagued the last four games.

Chicago has estimated 12,000 participants and 15,000 spectators will attend the games, with opening ceremonies in Soldier Field, closing ceremonies in Millennium Park and 25 sports held in four "sports villages" around Chicago.

The Montreal organizers of Rendez-Vouz 2006, the organization that lost the official sanction of the Gay Games late last year, took the opportunity of today's announcement to issue their own press release, blasting the FGG for trying to split the gay sport movement by having the Gay Games just two weeks before Rendez-Vous 2006.

February 26, 2004

A reunion for all 267 women who qualified for the first ever US Olympic Trials marathon in 1984 will be held this year in St. Louis, site of the 2004 trials on the weekend of April 3.

Kare Cossaboon Holm, who qualified for the US marathon trials in 1984 and 1988 is organizing the reunion.

The reunion is part of the St. Louis Marathon weekend. The 2004 Women's Olympic marathon trials will be held as a separate race on April 3rd while the St. Louis Marathon will be held on April 4th.

A dinner and other informal activities are planned.

For information Contact Kare Cossaboon Holm at: (610) 520-3490 (evening/weekend) or (610) 239-7900 x461 (daytime) or Marathon20thReun@aol.com

The Arctic Winter games have come a long way since 1970 and the first games in Yellowknife, with 500 athletes from Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

This years games are expecting over 2000 athletes and thousands more coaches, administrators, journalists and spectators from Alaska, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Northern Alberta, Greenland, Magadan (Russia), Nunavik-Quebec, Nunavut, Chukotka, Yamal-Nenets (Russia) and Sami, from northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.

Tom O'Hara, the 2004 Arctic Winter Games general manager has said that it might be time now to consider putting limits on the size of the games.

Issues such as fundraising, food, sleeping arrangements and volunteers are all becoming more difficult with the increased number of participants for the small towns and cities that host the games.

Add another footnote to the unfortunate embarrassment of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

A report commissioned by Atlanta's new police chief, Richard Pennington, has concluded that the city of Atlanta consistently under-reported crimes from the time Atlanta began to bid for the 1996 Olympic Games until 2002, when Pennington took office.

The effort was said to be part of Atlanta's attempt to improve its image during the bidding process, according to the Associated Press.

Police chief Pennington said, "I don't want to alarm the citizens or have them think that when they walk out on the streets, they're going to be mugged, shot or robbed because that's not the case," Pennington said. "The reason that I brought this to light is to educate the public that there's a lot of work to be done."

The audit was paid for by the Atlanta Police Foundation, an organization that raises money to supplement the police department budget.

Pennington reportedly plans to ask for a fifteen percent increase in department staffing based on the findings of the report.

Two athletes vying for Olympic berths are also fighting legal battles to remain eligible to compete in the Olympic Games.

In the United States, synchronized swimmer Tammy Crow, has been given a 90 day sentence for two counts of vehicular manslaughter. Crow was behind the wheel last year when she slid off an icy road, accidentally killing her boyfriend and another passenger.

The judge has delayed her sentence until after the Olympic Games. Crow had to have her arm reconstructed with a metal plate, but recovered from her injuries to be preliminarily selected for the games, but the US Olympic Committee may still decide whether she will or will not compete in Athens.

Crow is currently scheduled to serve her jail sentence after the Olympic Games are over.

In Australia, two-time Olympic gold medallist in shooting, Michael Diamond, found himself in a predicament when he lost his gun license, and was not allowed to participate in early shooting trials for the games.

The penalty was part of court proceedings after he had been accused by his former lover of assault. After six months of investigation, Diamond was cleared earlier this month of all charges, and the gun suspension has been lifted.

In an agreement with the Shooting Association Council of Australia Diamond will be allowed to participate in a last chance shoot-off to see if he can make the team. Diamond will undoubtedly be rusty after not having a chance to practice for several months.

Outdoor Life Network (OLN) has purchased the Gravity Games, from Octagon, Inc. Octagon will continue to help stage the games as part of the sales agreement.

There will be no 2004 Winter Gravity Games but 2004 summer Gravity Games, once again in Cleveland, and 2005 Winter Gravity Games are planned.

NBC had been a partner in the Gravity Games. Last year NBC had announced an expansion of their Gravity Games events, with Gravity Games Mountain and Gravity Games Water events added to the summer and winter versions of the Gravity Games. No word on whether OLN plans to continue the Gravity Games expansion.

X Games that is. As promised last year, the Aspen school district has decided to close school for one day, Monday the 24th, so that kids can go watch the X Games.

So many kids skipped out of school last year, 380 of 470 students at Aspen High School, that the school district decided just to let the kids enjoy the event and learn from the experience of having the world's greatest winter X games competitors from around the world, not to mention ESPN, in their back yard.

Administrators are hoping the kids will come back to school on Tuesday, when the games are over.

Aspen, Colorado will become the de facto home of the Winter X Games for the next several years after the Aspen Times cited that anonymous sources had indicated the games would stay in Aspen until the 2007 edition,

ESPN and the Aspen Skiing Company confirmed the announcement later in the day. Aspen has hosted the last two Winter X Games, and will host the 2004 edition next month.

Mammoth, California, and Whistler, British Columbia had expressed strong interest in hosting future Winter X Games, but have been outmaneuvered by Aspen for the time being.

The Moscow-Utah Youth Games could possibly become an annual exchange after this winter's games in Utah are over.

The games were an agreement between Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and then Utah Governor Mike Leavitt who thought up the idea around the time of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Former governor Leavitt is now the EPA director in Washington, D.C. Utah Governor Olene Walker has said that she will continue the dialogue with Mayor Luzhkov on the future of the games.

After summer games between high school aged athletes in 2003 in Moscow and winter games next month in Utah, the two delegations will decide is further events will be planned,

Two future Olympic cities, Beijing and Vancouver, have given indication that they would like to be part of the games.

January 8, 2004

The 2006 Arctic Winter Games, to be held on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, have announced three new sponsors for the event.

Aspen Hotels of Alaska, Era Aviation and Wells Fargo Bank have each announced funding and the supply of services from each company worth $100,000.

Between 12,000 14,000 people are expected to be involved with the games which currently has a budget of 5.3 million dollars.

Various sources have mentioned a possible winter multisport event, similar to last years Titan Games, might be in the works.

The event would be sponsored by the USOC, and include both long and short track speed skating, hockey, curling and figure skating.

One proposal has the possible games being held either just before or just after the 2006 Olympic Games.

Loren Smith, an Alaskan with more than 20 years experience with the Arctic Winter Games has been named as the General Manager for the 2006 edition to be held on the Kenai Peninsula.

Mr. Smith has worked on several Arctic Winter Games as far back as 1982, both with the organization of games and as team chef de mission for two Alaskan teams.

He was Director of Operations for the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games, held in Anchorage, and was on staff with the 2002 Olympic Games.

The Kenai organizers chose Smith from a pool of 60 applicants for both Canada and the United States.

Ten days after the 2004 Titan Games ended this past February in San Jose, California , the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reported that the games were a big success, quoting then USOC CEO Lloyd Ward as saying, "These athletes don't usually draw this well so the concept is sound," and that the event was expected to be held in San Jose in 2004.

In an article entitled "Games win hearts of Olympic Committee," the Journal noted that, "several U.S. athletes said they were awed by the spectacle and by the amount of attention given to their sports by the Titan Games."

Now, ten months later, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, part of the same company as the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, has changed its tune, perhaps in conjunction with more reflection from the USOC. The Atlanta Business Chronicle now contends that the games didn't draw as many fans or as much corporate sponsorship as expected.

As successful as the games were, the USOC rushed to put them together with just 120 days notice and the games were hurt by the last minute cancellation of the Cuban boxing team.

Atlanta is now being mentioned as a possible bidder for the Titan Games and the Atlanta Business Chronicle is lobbying hard for the games to go to Atlanta.

The Journal reports that though San Jose has first right of refusal for the games, based on discussions between the USOC and the two cities, it looks likely that the games will go to Atlanta and be held in June 2004 during the build-up to the Athens Olympic Games, though an official bid has still not been made by Atlanta.

The Journal, attempting to paint Atlanta as an ideal place for the games, possibly on a permanent basis, quoted Georgia State marketing professor, Ken Bernhardt, as saying. "There probably isn't another city in the country that has the halo of the Olympics around it like Atlanta has, and this would boost our standing as a leader in sports events."

It's always like that with the marketeers, isn't it? Mr. Bernhardt perhaps has never heard of the city that has hosted the 1932 and the 1984 Olympic Games, far more successfully than the unfortunately mismanaged and internationally maligned Atlanta version of the games in 1996.

With the withdrawal of Montreal as the host of the next Gay Games in 2006, the Federation of Gay Games has opened up the bid process once again.

Cities will have until December 1st to decide whether they want to bid for the games. So far only two cities from the previous bid race, Chicago and Los Angeles, are considering bidding. Atlanta has already notified the Federation that they will not enter the race.

The bid process will then take about three months with the new 2006 Gay Games host city announced on or around March 1, 2004. This would give the new host a very short window of time to work with, as the Federation has stated that they plan to hold to the quadrennial schedule and hold the games in 2006.

The Gorge Games, Hood River Oregon's planned annual extreme sports festival, is hoping for a return in 2004.

The rights to the games have also been returned to Hood River's Limitless Event and Marketing, the company owned by the Games Founder Peggy Lalor.

The games began in 1996 and are generally planned to be held on an annual basis. The games have been cancelled in 1999 and 2003 due to lack of sponsor support.

The Games have had some television exposure with NBC broadcasting some events from 2000 to 2002.

Halfway through the Moscow / Utah Youth games, and the Utah delegation has had its eyes opened very wide since their arrival.

The games began with an amazing opening ceremony, complete with a laser light show, rock bands, ballet dancers, circus acrobats, and a fairy tale good-over-evil theme, all broadcast live on Moscow TV. Then, after getting used to different foods and being treated like celebrities, the athletes from Utah were taken to task on the playing fields.

But it wasn't just the athletes being overrun. Robert Flowers, a Utah security advisor, and former security chief for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, in town to help with security for the youth games, had his eyes opened on security issues when he had his wallet taken by pickpockets on the subway.

The games grew from discussions between Utah Governor Michael Leavitt and the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. The Youth Games are meant to be a friendly exchange between the two regions. The two delegations marched into the Opening Ceremony together in Luzhniki Stadium. Moscow is also hoping the games will give a boost to its aspirations to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Winter games are planned in Utah next February.

The 250 or so athletes from Utah are staying in hotels along with their counterparts from Moscow to create a mini athlete's village, Security is tight, with the athletes being escorted by police from one venue to another.

Many events are being held in the Olympijski Sports Complex, used for the 1980 Olympic Games, a 45,000 seat arena where gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and wrestling can be played at one time.

After the opening ceremony and the first day of competition, the Muscovites swept their western rivals in swimming, basketball and wrestling. Utah did take a win in baseball. The going will continue to be tough for the Utahns, who draw from a much smaller population base than that of Moscow.

Two Utah high school state records were set in swimming. Casey Kleinman, the 200-yard backstroke 2:09.65, and Kenneth Clark, the 400 individual medley, in 4:42.63.

The Utah teams had to play on Sunday, generally off limits for Utah's Mormon population. For the games, however, the Utahns felt it would not be appropriate to impose their beliefs on the hosts, and went with the schedule arranged by the organizers.

The institute for International Sport, sponsors of various world and regional Scholar-Athlete games, have announced several more games for 2003 and 2004.

The Irelands' Scholar-Athlete Games will be held next month in Jordanstown, Northern Ireland

An African Scholar-Athlete Games is planned for December of this year in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 2004, three more regional Scholar-Athlete Games are planned, with the Middle East/Mediterranean Scholar-Athlete Games in June, in Tel Aviv, Israel. A European Scholar-Athlete Games and Australian/Pacific Rim Scholar-Athlete Games are also planned. Both of those games are scheduled to be held in December, 2004, but host cities have not been named.

The 4th World Scholar-Athlete Games are scheduled to be held in June, 2005 in Kingston, Rhode Island, home of the Institute for International Sport.

When the equation is Denver + Olympic Games the unfortunate answer for the past 30 years has been, Ooops! Denver was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympic Games and then in a citizen revolt, voted them down for reasons of economics and environment. The games were shifted to Innsbruck.

But perhaps, Denver was right. Perhaps Denver protected herself wisely against the fate that befell the other 1976 games host, which is still paying off her Olympic Stadium.

If time heals all wounds, the Metro Denver Sports Commission is looking into the possibility that enough time has passed that Denver might be able to bid for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

With different economic times, and television revenues, even the former governor of Colorado, Dick Lamm, who led the revolt against the games in the early 70s, has said the games might work in Colorado now, or fifteen years from now.

The Metro Denver Sports Commission is scheduled to release its report in a few weeks.

San Diego is interested in bidding for the Great Outdoor Games, starting with the 2005 edition. ESPN, the Games primary sponsor, has a pattern of staying in a location for 2-3 years with the Great Outdoor Games, X Games and Winter X Games. The feeling is that Reno may get the Great Outdoor Games for at least one or two more years.

San Diego would also like to bring the X Games back to San Diego having held them in 1997 and 1998.

San Diego Sports Council representatives were in Reno this week observing venues and operations for the games.

The Tampa Bay Sports Commission is asking for volunteers to help with Team USA processing for the 2003 Pan Am Games. Volunteers must be 15 years of age or older. Call (813) 350-6552 send an e-mail to info@tampabaysports.org for more information. Groups are encouraged to volunteer.

Processing will be from July 18-Aug. 6 at the University of Tampa's Vaughn Center. More than 700 American athletes will processed in Tampa on the way to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Volunteers will help athletes with paperwork, and tasks such as handing out national team uniforms, and assisting with team briefings.

Kenai Peninsula Arctic Winter Games money approved under mild protest (full story)

When the Kenai peninsula bid for the 2006 Arctic Winter Games, some 2,000 volunteers in the community pledged their support.

Alaska's Peninsula Clarion newspaper now reports that the community is involved in heavy discussions relating to who will pay for the games, and how.

The first hurdle was the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly which had to enact a law which was meant to make sure that what the Assembly had previously done was legal, which is allowed by law.

The Assembly then passed a budget, approving spending of $200,000 for the games, but without giving enough specifics to satisfy some local citizens curiosity about where that money would be coming from.

Citizen Charles Dickson of Soldotna asked that the assembly delay a decision on the budget for 120 days, "at which time I expect you to come back to me with letters in hand quoting people who are going to pay for this," he said. "Right now, you're gambling."

James Price, a resident of added "I question the rosy fund-raising projections and feel that if this project had been well thought out that the questions that many of us have asked previously would have been answered promptly," he said. "With the borough promising to sign a blank check, I believe there is little motivation to cut costs or raise funds. I ask that our borough exercise fiscal responsibility."

Aspen, Colorado has been selected to host the Winter X Games for a third time, breaking the almost constant pattern of ESPN holding a games twice in one city and then moving on.

The Winter X Games have been held twice in a row in Aspen, and before that twice in a row in Mount Snow, Vermont and twice in a row at Crested Butte, Colorado. The first Winter X Games were held in Big Bear, California.

The summer X Games have so far held to the same pattern with the first two games held in Newport, Rhode Island before the games were held twice in San Diego, twice in San Francisco and twice in Philadelphia. The next two summer X Games are scheduled to be held in Los Angeles.

Aspen worked very hard to get the games for a third time, with the Aspen Ski Company agreeing to pay for expenses that ESPN had paid for the past two years, including incentives for lodging, transportation and marketing.

Businesses in Aspen felt that the games were great for Aspen's image. Aspen is attempting to tone down its image as only "posh" and "upscale" and try and win a larger share of the younger market. Having the Winter X Games return is a major part of this strategy.

This years edition of the Indianapolis-Scarborough Peace Games, scheduled for July 17-20 have been cancel because of the SARS epidemic.

The games would have been the 31st annual competition between the two sister-cities. Scarborough is a suburb of Toronto, which has suffered a relapse in the number of cases of the SARS virus.

Officials in both Indianapolis and Scarborough are moving forward with plans for the 2004 games.

Last week, the organizers of the CANUSA Games, a competition between the cities of Flint, Michigan and Hamilton, Ontario, said that they were considering canceling their games this year over SARS concerns.

San Francisco's sfgate.com has reported that organizers were so pleased with the success of the Titan Games, that it is growing more likely that the games will held again next year.

Dean Munro, executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, reported that the sport federations involved " were so extraordinarily enthused about the event they want to have it again next year."

By the way, ESPN's coverage of the Titan Games on March 29-30, failed in any way to capture the intensity and excitement that was found in the arena those days. Instead of covering the event as it happened, ESPN went for the packaged approach, with lots of non-action up close interviews and other filler. Completely missed in the telecast was the frenzy of activity that occurred in the arena, though small glimpses could be had while the big screen happened to come into view on the telecast.

The Gorge Games, an outdoor and adventure sport competition held on the Columbia River in Oregon, has reportedly run into sponsorship difficulties and will be taking the year off.

The games have been planned on an annual basis since 1996, but were suspended in 1999 also for a lack of sponsorship.

ESPN announced in December, that the 2003 Great Outdoor Games will be held in the west, in the Reno-Tahoe area.

Events will be held at Rancho San Rafael Park, on the
Truckee River, and other area sites.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports will televise about 20 hours of the Games.

The Titan Games arena didn’t have mats or rings it had “Battlezones.” They didn’t sell programs but “Combat Guides” and the Titan Games didn’t have all the Olympic sports, but as the advertising for the games read, “just the really painful ones.”

And the first ever Titan Games didn’t have much news coverage, but by Saturday night the games could be called nothing but a Colossal success.

Saturday’s events climaxed when US wrestler T.C Dantzler body slammed his Kazhaki opponent, not once but twice, ending the match the second time, the near-capacity crowd erupting in unison. Olympic Champion Rulon Gardner followed, winning his first match since recovering from frostbite last winter, and the games closed with Shane Hamman, lifting 501 pounds over his head to win the clean and jerk portion of the weightlifting.

Remember the Barcelona triplecast, with three channels of Olympic sports? This was quadruplecast. Live, with no commercial interruptions, no stops in the action.

Big screens in the arena added to the frenzy of action, providing close-ups and the chance to see two and three sports in one line of sight. Imagine sitting in front of a big screen TV, split four ways, but the sports were live. The tickets were worth every penny!

The Titan Games worked! The Titan Games rocked! The venue was the perfect size, around 4500 seats, and allowed the spectators a close-up look at the athletes while competing and when they sat in the stands with the rest of the spectators when not competing. The athletes were approachable and mingled freely with each other and with spectators.

Athletes from 20 countries competed over three days in weightlifting, fencing, karate, taekwondo, judo, boxing, wrestling and shot put. Each session began with a short Opening Ceremony with the athletes marching to their respective Battlezones behind their nations flags, or for the all-star teams, the Titan Games flag.

Hungary, Norway, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Belarus, Cuba, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Ecuador, South Africa Canada and United States were represented.

Numerous Asian Games Champions, Pan- American Games Champions, World Military Champions and World University Champions were present.

Organizers had promised events in three of four rings at a time and for the most part, were able to keep their promise. No one seemed to mind, with four events going on at once, there was never a lack of action. Towards the end of the sessions, as action wound down, spectators could focus on the action in the remaining Battlezones.

Spectators, had a smorgasbord of wrestling, both freestyle and greco-roman, men’s and women’s bouts, in Battlezone One, where Cuba, Canada, Norway, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the US met.

Battlezone Two featured boxing, with the US teams one and two taking on Mexico and Puerto Rico. The Cuban national boxing team, a late cancellation, was barely missed.

Battlezone Three was chock-full of taekwondo, judo and karate action, with China, Japan Korea, Mexico and the US featured. An advertised team from Vietnam did not show.

Battlezone Four traded off between fencing and weightlifting with All-Star teams from the US, Pan-Am All-Stars and Asian-Stars competed.

The competitions were based on a team format, with no individual medals awarded and no medals tables kept.

During the entire competition a bit of a soundtrack played in the background the entire time, but it wasn’t contrived or intrusive. The games were simply pure sport, pure competition, and pure excitement, without the Ebersolization of presentation that has come to permeate televised events, or the obnoxious advertising, and tawdry silliness that has come to permeate live events.

The games were commercialized, no doubt, but the signage in the arena (something that still won’t happen within an Olympic venue) added to the color of the games, and gave Adidas, Visa, Bank of America, Budweiser and 24 Hour Fitness their due for bankrolling the games.

USOC, San Jose Sports Authority and San Jose State University should be commended for running an event, that to the spectators, came across without a hitch. USOC, CEO Lloyd Ward should be congratulated for his vision in creating and organizing the event.

Athletes, spectators and organizers seemed to think that the success of the inaugural event bodes well for future Titan Games.

A final Closing ceremony, honored the team winners of the competitions, and the athletes massed together on the wrestling mat while USOC CEO Lloyd Ward, gave out the award for the “Ultimate Titan” of the games.

A rather broadened definition of “Ultimate” saw one female athlete, weightlifter Cheryl Haworth named “Ultimate Titan” of the female athletes, while Cuban wrestler Yoel Romero and US weightlifter Shane Hammond shared the title of Ultimate Titan on the Men’s side.

The 2003 and 2004 X games have been awarded to Los Angeles, beating out Miami for the event. The 2003 games are scheduled for August 14 - 18.

The games return to California after two years in Philadelphia. San Francisco hosted the games in 1999 and 2000, San Diego the hosted the 1997 and 1999 editions.

The games will be a cooperative effort between ESPN and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns the Staples Center where the main events of Bike Stunt, Moto X, Skateboard, Aggressive In-line Skate and Speed Climb will be held.

Venues for Wakeboarding, Skateboard Street and Downhill BMX have not been specified.

ESPN continues to expand its worldwide schedule of extreme events with the first edition of the X Games Global Championships to be held May 15-18, 2003.

The event is a team format, combining summer and winter X Games events, and hosted jointly in San Antonio, Texas and Whistler, British Columbia.

Six teams of the world's best X Games athletes will compete from the U.S., Europe, Canada, South America, Asia and Australia. Each team will consist of two athletes per region for each sport. Results from all events will be combined for an overall team score.

Add another games to the busy international multisport calendar. The US Olympic Committee, after several months of vague mentions (and originally calling the games the Gladiator Games), has given the go ahead to the 2003 Titan Games to be held in February 2003.

The games will feature boxing, fencing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, karate and shot putting and be held in San Jose, California February 14 and 15.

The format will match teams from the United States against teams from the rest of the world.

The competition will take place in the Event Center at San Jose State University, with four competition platforms. The plan os for action to be simultaneous on at leas three of the four platforms at all times.

Cuba's boxers are expected to compete, as well as the wrestling team from Russia, weightlifting team from Hungary, taekwondo team from Korea.

Lloyd Ward, the USOC CEO, has said that other mini multisport games could be created if the Titan Games succeed.

Examples could be games consisting of water sports (swimming, water polo, diving), blade sports (hockey, figure skating, speed skating) or paddle sports (tennis, badminton, table tennis).

Brazil used fortunate timing to convince voters that it was the best city for the 2007 Pan American Games.

Brazil, recently rescued the South American Games, which were originally scheduled to be held in Colombia in April of this year. Brazil stepped in and held the games in four Brazilian cities. Rio also took advantage of the current world climate and claimed to be a "terror-free city."

San Antonio had been considered the front runner for the games in many circles, but the vote went 30-21 in Rio's favor. San Antonio's newspaper said that San Antonio's bid committee members were "reeling in disbelief." San Antonio, has been trying for 15 years to get the Pan American Games, and has during that period has successfully hosted numerous international events in many sports.

"For the United States, this would have been just another event,'' said Marcelo Itajiba, head of Rio's federal police. "For Brazil, this is the event.''

"We have no problems with terrorism or terrorist groups,'' said Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of Brazil's Olympic Committee.

San Antonio's bid noted that it had every needed venues already built, except for the main stadium for track and field and a velodrome.

Brazil still needs to build seven of the required 23 facilities, and a new parkway, and athletes' village.

Brazil is throwing its hat into the ring for the 2012 Olympic Games. The 2012 Olympic Games host will be chosen in 2005 so the implementation of the 2007 games will have no bearing on that decision.

Officials from San Antonio had expected the Caribbean nations to vote as a bloc for San Antonio, but said that based on the numbers on the secret ballot, this did not happen.

USOC to sponsor new games?

August 2002

The USOC website is proposing the possibility of a new games, for combat and power sports, called the "Titan Games." The games would include boxing, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, wrestling and karate, and pit a US team against a combined team from the rest of the world.

On August 24, PASO, the Pan American Sports Organization will choose the city for the 2007 Pan-American Games. San Antonio, Texas and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are the bidders. Brazil is hoping that the recently concluded South American Games, which they organized with just four months preparation after Colombia cancelled, will put them over the top.

On August 27, the USOC will choose two cities out of the four still left in the running to be the US candidate for the 2012 Olympic Games. San Francisco, New York, Washington DC and Houston are still in the running. The final candidate will be chosen in November.

The Olympic Family has lost two key members this month, Canada's Jim Thompson, who was named as CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee just this past March, and John Argue of Los Angeles, who was a key figure in the organization of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Thompson, 60 years of age, died of a heart attack, while attending meeting for the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympic bid.

Argue was a worker, many times behind the scenes, in the Los Angeles business and philanthropic communities and was one of the key figures who helped Los Angeles get the 1984 Olympic Games. He was also Chairman of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, which was established after the games to manage the proceeds that resulted from those games. He was awarded an Olympic Order by the IOC in 1994 for his Olympic work.

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