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Scottish Commonwealth bid contest turns icy

April 29, 2004

What some thought might be a cooperative Commonwealth Games bid for Scotland, has taken a competitive turn this week.

Brian Ferguson of the scotsman.com writes first that Commonwealth Games rules do not allow for a joint bid, so Edinburgh and Glasgow can not take the cooperative route.

Edinburgh Council member Brian Meek and other Tory members of the council are urging the council to drop the bid immediately and save the £25,000 cost of putting together the first bid. Meek said, "Edinburgh's already hosted this event twice in 1970 and 1986, and frankly has no chance of hosting it again. "It seems very churlish to be going ahead with a bid simply to try to stop Glasgow winning it and we'd be as well throwing £25,000 in the bin.

Some £50 million pounds is available from Sportscotland to upgrade sports facilities, and some Tory members of the council have accused Edinburgh of attempting to bid for the games simply to be able to get a hand on that money. Meek and other Tory members would like Edinburgh to support Glasgow's bid instead.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, disagreed stating, "It would be an act of complete folly not to go forward with a bid at this stage. If Glasgow is awarded the Games then good luck to them, but we owe it to the citizens of Edinburgh to bid for major events like this when the chance comes up."

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh will find out about the funding awards from Sportscotland at the end of June.

Abuja's African Games village already in disrepair

April 29, 2004

The Lagos newspaper, This Day, is reporting that the village complex used for last year's African Games in Abuja is in disrepair, and has been looted and vandalized and left unoccupied since last November.

The village, with space to house about 11,000 people, will be used for Nigeria's upcoming National Sports Festival, which begins in less than a week.

The organizing committee for the National Games has been working to replace broken doors and stolen air conditioning units and to clean up the village.

Nigeria has mentioned bidding for larger events such as the Commonwealth Games, Afro-Asian Games or even the Olympic Games. Without care for existing facilities, and making use of these facilities, it will be difficult for Nigeria's dream to come true.

Guangzhou expecting a tidy 2010 Asian Games profit

April 29, 2004

The 2010 Asian Games have yet to be officially awarded, but already, Guangzhou, China, the lone city left in the bidding, is calculating the potential profit of the games to be US$75m

The city expects to invest up to 1 billion US dollars, on sports venues, transportation, including over 200 kilometers of metro lines, environmental upgrades and other public works for the games.

At the same time, property developers in the region are expecting property values to soar based on all of the improvements that are planned for the games.

Commonwealth Games Federation to inspect Bendigo

April 29, 2004

Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation is scheduled to visit Bendigo, Australia this week to look over the venues and planning for the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Bendigo in November and December.

The games coordinator Lauren Beattie is feeling very confident about plans for the games, saying the plans for venues, logistics and transportation are all ready to go. The organizing committee is still working on mobilizing volunteers for the games.

Commonwealth 2002 positive boost for Manchester

April 28, 2004

Marketing Manchester, the organization in Manchester responsible for promoting the city throughout the world, reported today that the Commonwealth Games had a positive financial impact on the city of about £2 billion pounds.

Marketing Manchester reported that some 84.4 million visitors came to the greater Manchester region in 2002, and that most came from America. Employment in the tourism sector rose 10 percent.

Marketing Manchester might want to look more closely into the reasons for the increase, if most of the traffic was American, given that the vast majority of Americans don't know that the Commonwealth Games exist.

It was reported in October 2002 that the games returned a small surplus of 13 million pounds, of which

2 million pounds was returned to the federal government, 3 million pounds to the Manchester City Council and 4 million pounds to Sport England.

Dunedin gains from NZ Masters Games

April 28, 2004

Blair Mayston of the Otago Daily Times is reporting that the New Zealand Masters Games held January 31 to February 8 of this year, in Dunedin, New Zealand had a positive impact of about $ 3 million dollars NZ (about 1.9 million US) on the city.

The final economic impact study is still being produced by the Dunedin City Council, and is expected to be complete next month. The games themselves operated at a small deficit, being reported right now at around $60,000.

This years games had about 7000 participants. The games have been held in Dunedin in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and are scheduled back in 2006.

Organizers are working with the organizing committee of the South Island Masters Games to

ACC, New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation was the prime sponsor of this year's games, and has announced they will also sponsor the 2006 Games.

Guatemala new host of 2005 Central American Games

April 24, 2004

The Central American sports organization, Organización Deportiva Centroamericana (ORDECA) has announced a change in venue for the 2005 Central American Games.

Nicaragua was announced as the 2005 host after the last games were held in 2001 but Nicaragua has now given up the games. Guatemala, which has already hosted three of the seven editions of the games, will now be the host.

ORDECA declined to approve a plan between Guatemala and El Salvador in which ten of the games events would be held in El Salvador. ORDECA has announced that Guatemala will be the exclusive host of the games.

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh still in 2014 CG consideration

April 24, 2004

The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland (CGCS) is still considering either Edinburgh or Glasgow as its candidate city to enter the international contest for the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid according to the scotsman.com. Both cities have entered expressions of interest with the CGCS.

In the case of either city, the bids are still in an exploratory stage. Detailed bids are due to the CGCS on July 19.

SportsScotland has tentatively stated that up to 50 million pounds could be available to the city that wins the bid for preparations for the games.

The field is still wide open for the games, with early interest being expressed from South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and possibly Nigeria.

The Commonwealth Games federation will choose the 2014 host in 2007.

Madison Great Outdoor Games venue off target?

April 23, 2004

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.

Art Devlin, Lake Placid hero dies at 81

April 23, 2004

Art Devlin, an Olympian, vice-president of the Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee and as a TV sportscaster, died Thursday, April 22nd at the age of 81 in his home in Lake Placid.

Devlin was a ski jumper who competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. He then went on to a career in sports television with CBS and ABC for over twenty years.

In his retirement, he and his family ran a European style lodge in Lake Placid.

Bosnia and Herzegovina to host Special Olympics Friendship Games

April 22, 2004

The inaugural Southeast Europe Friendship Games Special Olympics will be held in the towns of Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Banja Luka a town in the Srpska Republic.

The opening ceremonies are to be held in Zetra Hall, the main arena for the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Games that was destroyed during the Bosnian conflict, and rebuilt afterwards. The ceremonies will be broadcast live throughout Bosnia. Bosnian Prime Minister Adnan Terziæ serving as Patron of the Games.

Eleven teams are expected at the games: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia which are to be held April 24-27. Four sports: aquatics, athletics, football and table tennis are on the schedule.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver the founder of Special Olympics and her son, Tim Shriver, now the Special Olympics Chairman and CEO Tim Shriver are planning to be at the games.

Spielberg turns his talents to 1972 Munich Olympics

April 22, 2004

Dreamworks pictures has announced this week that Steven Spielberg will be the latest to try his hand at re-telling the story. Production is planned to start in June with Ben Kingsley for a possible leading role.

Several filmmakers have taken their turn at attempting to portray on film the events of the 1972 Olympic Games, the terrorist massacre at those games, and the Israeli response.

21 hours at Munich by Robert Greenwald in 1976 was one of the earliest. More recently, Arthur Cohn's, One Day in September, released in 1999 won numerous awards including the 2000 Academy Award for best Documentary, a British Independent Film Award in 2000, and a Golden Camera award in Germany in 2001.

To films depict the Israeli response to the killings. Sword of Gideon by Steven Bauer in 1986 recounts the story of the team from the Israel's intelligence services that tracked down and executed eleven of the terrorists. Golda's list, released in Australia in 2003, tells the same story from the perspective of Israeli Premier Golda Meir.

Anglesy woos gov't support for 2009 Games

April 22, 2004

Supporters of the Anglesey bid for the 2009 Island Games are working hard to convince their Welsh leaders that the bid is worthwhile.

This week, a group from Anglesey gave a tour to Phil Carling, chairman of the Sports Council for Wales, head of the National Assembly's sports division, Arthur Emyr and Alan Pugh the Welsh sports minister.

The group is attempting to gain monetary support for the games from the government, primarily for a new sports hall and swimming pool for the games and communities.

OCA will award Asian Games to Guangzhou

April 22, 2004

The Olympic Council of Asia has announced that given the withdrawal of all other candidates, the 2010 Asian Games will be officially awarded to Guangzhou, China on July 1, when delegates meet in Doha, Qatar for meetings.

Guangzhou has continued to run hard for the bid, despite the news that Amman, Jordan, Daegu, South Korea and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia have all abandoned the race. During the visit by the OCA evaluation committee Guangzhou put up 50,000 bid posters with the slogans: "Co-operation, Competition and Development," "Invigorating Asia, Inspiring the World" and "Wholesome and Exciting; Green and Clean."

Guangzhou announced this week that as part of the support for its 2010 Asian Games bid the city will be spending about $350 million dollars in the next several years to considerably increase green space in the city. The program began in September of last year.

Meanwhile, Olympic Council of Malaysia's President Tunku Imran has called the decision of Malaysia to forego a games bid a "blessing in disguise" and that Malaysia could use the money that would have been spent on the games to develop sport at the grassroots level in Malaysia.

Norris McWhirter, 1925-2004

April 21, 2004

Famed for his announcement of the world's first ever four-minute mile, and for his numerous other accomplishments as an athlete, journalist, publisher, broadcaster and activist, Norris McWhirter, passed away last week, Monday April 19th. McWhirter died of a heart attack while playing tennis at his home.

McWhirter was an athlete and rugby player, representing Scotland internationally in the 100 and 200 meters.

Friends with Roger Bannister and Chris Chataway, and involved in Bannister's record run, the McWhirter brothers were asked by the managing director of the Guinness brewing company, via Chataway who worked for the company, to write a book about records, and the first Guinness Book of Records was born in 1955.

Educated at Oxford, and sons of a newspaper executive, the sons both began careers as sports journalists.

McWhirter was a sportswriter for the Observer and the Star, Editor of Athletics Weekly from 1952 until 1956 and covered covered the Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich Olympic Games for the BBC

He and his brother founded the prolific Redwood Press.

Politically active in conservative causes, the McWhirters founded the Freedom Association with the goal of raising money to help find IRA terrorists. Ross was gunned down by the IRA in November 1975, five days after the announcement of the establishment of the Freedom Association.

Norris then founded the Ross McWhirter Foundation as a memorial to his brother.

In 1980, McWhirter vociferously protested the holding of the Olympic Games in Moscow.

McWhirter's death comes just a few weeks before a large celebration in Oxford of the 50th anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile barrier for the first time. McWhirter would have no doubt been a major part of the ceremonies there, and most likely will be referred to frequently by the participants in attendance.

Just two days before his death, McWhirter enjoyed a dinner in London as part of the London Marathon festivities. In attendance, among others, were former mile world record holders, Sebastian Coe, Derek Ibbotson and Roger Bannister, and one of the pacemakers for Bannisters' race (and Commonwealth Games 3 mile champion in 1954) Chris Chataway.

According to Coe, towards the end of the evening, Derek Ibbotson, began a plea for McWhirter to recreate his famous announcement of Bannisters' result. When other guests joined in, McWhirter relented, stood up and announced:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the result of event No 9, the one mile. First, No 41, R G Bannister of the Amateur Athletic Association, and formerly of Exeter and Merton colleges, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which, subject to ratification, will be a new English Native, British National, British all-comers, European, British Empire and world record. The time is three. . ."

Rio de Janeiro will also host 2007 Pan American Wheelchair Games

April 21, 2004

Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2007 Pan American Games will now host the 2007 Pan American Wheelchair Games, or Parapanamerican Games in 2007. The announcement was made during the Pan American Sports Organizations meetings this week in San Antonio, Texas.

Dates have been tentatively set for August 12 to 19, 2007 for the Parapanamerican Games and July 13-29 for the Pan American Games. The same organizing committee will be in charge of both games.

Rio de Janeiro has already hosted the Pan American Wheelchair Games on one previous occasion, in 1978.

Former Pan American Wheelchair Games sites:

• 1967 Winnipeg, Canada
• 1969 Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1971 Kingston, Jamaica
• 1973 Lima, Peru
• 1975 Mexico City, Mexico
• 1978 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1982 Halifax, Canada
• 1986 San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 1990 Caracas, Venezuela
• 1995 Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1999 Mexico City, Mexico
• 2003 Mar del Plata, Argentina

Former Pan American Games sites:

• 1951 Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1955 Mexico City, Mexico
• 1959 Chicago, USA
• 1963 Sao Paolo, Brazil
• 1967 Winnipeg, Canada
• 1971 Cali, Columbia
• 1975 Mexico City, Mexico
• 1979 San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 1983 Caracas, Venezuela
• 1987 Indianapolis, USA
• 1991 Havana, Cuba
• 1995 Mar del Plata, Argentina
• 1999 Winnipeg, Canada
• 2003 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Athletes descending on Maputo for SADC Games

April 21, 2004

Young athletes from around Southern Africa are making their way to Maputo, Mozambique for the South Asian Development Community (SADC) Games (also called the Zone VI Youth Games) for youth under 20 from April 24 to May 2. Twelve nations are scheduled to participate.

Both Malawi and Lesotho were supposed to host the games earlier, but both were reportedly fined US $100,000 after canceling as hosts. Malawi petitioned for relief of the fine, but was refused by the SADC sports council. This has severely restricted the travel budget for Malawi's team, and Malawi will now only be able to send six track and field athletes the games, leaving their, football, boxing, netball, basketball teams and disabled sports athletes at home.

Angola will sending teams in basketball, sports for the disabled, soccer, athletics and boxing while South Africa is sending the largest delegation with nearly 200 athletes.

First South American University Games open in Chile

April 20, 2004

The Universidad de Concepcion, in Concepcion, Chile, is hosting the first Juegos Sudamericanos Universitarios, (South American University Games) from April 20-24, with athletics, basketball and table tennis for men and women, football for men, and volleyball for women.

About 600 university athletes from Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru and host Chile are participating in the games.

Dates set for 4th Special Olympics Middle East/North Africa Regional Games

April 20, 2004

Dates for the 4th Special Olympics Middle East/North Africa Regional Games to be held in Tunisia will be September 4-7, 2004. The games were originally announced to be held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Twenty national teams from the region are expected to compete in aquatics, athletics, basketball, floor hockey, football, table tennis.

The games will also include a Youth Summit, Athlete Leadership Programs Congress, Families Forum and Healthy Athletes program.

ESPN wins Emmy for Great Outdoor Games coverage

April 20, 2004

ESPN Outdoors Communications, a division of the ESPN conglomerate, has won an Emmy for Outstanding Live Audio/Sound during their coverage of the Great Outdoor Games from Reno, Nevada last summer. The games aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

Philippines to hold South East Asian Games Reunion

April 19, 2004

As part of the preparations for the 2005 South East Asian (SEA) Games, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is planning a reunion of the sports heroes from the 1991 editions of the games, the last held in the Philippines.

The event is planned to be a week long festival in September of this year, with concerts, competitions, exhibits, pep rallies to publicize and create interest in the 2005 SEA Games which are scheduled for November 2005.

Some athletes from 1999 who were mentioned as possibilities for the reunion include: Lydia de Vega Mercado and Elma Muros Posadas (athletics), Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Coo (bowling), Akiko Thomson and Eric Buhain (swimming), Mansueto Velasco Jr. (boxing), John Baylon (judo), Tac Padilla (shooting), Felix Barrientos (lawn tennis) and Bea Lucero (taekwondo).

Diamond leads Australia shoot-off

April 17, 2004

Michael Diamond, twice an Olympic gold medallist, has stayed alive in his last chance to make the Australian Shooting team for the Athens Olympic Games.

Diamond is locked into a contest with Nathan Cassells for the final Australian spot in clay target shooting.

Diamond had had his gun license temporarily suspended while embroiled in a legal controversy last year in Australia. He was cleared, but in the meantime had not been able to compete in the Australian Trials for the games.

Australian shooting officials arranged for an unusual shoot-off between Diamond, and Nathan Cassells who finished second in the trials. The two were to compete in regularly scheduled events in Sydney, Cairo and Athens.

After the Sydney event, the two were dead even, having shot the exact number of targets 114 of 125. At the Cairo World Cup this week, Diamond hit 118 targets to finish second, Cassells equaled his number from Sydney, 114, to finish 11th.

The final round will be held in Athens, later this month, in a facility, that to no one's surprise, is said to be incomplete, and still lacking electricity. Shooters have criticized the venue, which reportedly is reached only by a dirt road that one shooter termed a "goat track"

Greek officials say the shooting venue will be ready for the World Cup event next week.

Second Cuban national Games to open Sunday

April 16, 2004

The second edition of the Cuban National Games begins this weekend and are scheduled to run from April 18-30.

The 41 sports in the games will be spread out across all fourteen Cuban provinces. Cuban sources are touting the games as a chance to show Cuba's capability to host a future Olympic Games.

The first edition of the games was hastily scheduled in 2002 in conjunction with Cuba's boycott of the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador. Cuba does not have diplomatic relations with El Salvador, and expressed concerns about security.

Those first Cuban National Games (or National Olympics as they are being advertised), were a mostly Cuban affair. This time around the Cubans have announced that about 200 of the 1100 competitors will come from 29 nations outside of Cuba. Many are sports students that are studying or training for sport in Cuba's sports schools.

San Antonio preparing for PASO meeting

April 16, 2004

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.

Maldives looking to improve NOC operations

April 15, 2004

The Sports Ministry of the Maldives, which oversees the work of the Maldives National Olympic Committee, is looking to improve the situation of the committee, in hopes that this will in turn help Maldivian athletes to improve their performances at competitions such as the South Asian Federation Games and Indian Ocean Island Games.

At present, there are no professional staff employed by the Maldives Olympic Committee. This may be one area that changes.

The Maldives, in Indian Ocean Island Games and South Asian Federation Games have won just five silver and 13 bronze medals in fifteen editions of those games.

Sports Ministry’s policy, Sports Development Officer Ibrahim Nazeem said that, while some Maldivian national records were set at the recent South Asian Federation Games in Pakistan, that the nation needed to win more medals.

Rijeka ready for Alps Adriatic Youth Games

April 15, 2004

Rijeka, Croatia will host the 11th Alps Adriatic Youth Games, June 21-24 of this year.

The games welcome youth athletes from regions of Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and Hungary.

This years games will include athletics, swimming and tennis for both boys and girls, basketball for boys and volleyball for girls.

Rijeka, lost last year to Pescara, Italy in the bid for the 2009 Mediterranean Games.

Macao confirms dates for 2005 East Asian Games

April 14, 2004

The East Asia Games Association's (EAGA) Rules and Technical Committee has given final confirmation of previously announced dates for the 2005 East Asian Games. The games are scheduled to be held October 29-Novermber 6, 2005.

Seventeen sports will be offered at the 2005 games.

Shanghai hosted the first edition of the games in 1993, Busan, Korea the 1997 games and Osaka, Japan the 2001 edition.

Nine nations, China, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macao, Mongolia and South Korea take part in the games, with Australia invited a a non-medal winning guest team in 2001.

Macao has budgeted some $250 million US for the games preparations.

Third edition of Supergames announced

April 14, 2004

Organizers of the Supergames in Auckland, New Zealand have announced that the third edition of the games has been scheduled to take place in Auckland, March 4-12, 2005.

The 2003 edition was hampered by concern over the SARS virus, and the outbreak of the war in Iraq. Participation was about one third of what was expected.

Organizers are advertising this years edition as "The World Services Sporting Challenge." and hoping for the most successful event to date. The games are for the "Worlds Armed Forces, Emergency Services and Law Enforcement Agencies" which includes the Air Force, Ambulance, Army, Coastguard, Customs, Fire, Fisheries, Justice, Marines, Navy, Nurses, Paramedics, Police, Prison, Protective Services, Sheriffs and other Services. Participants may be active or retired. This year family members will also be eligible to compete in the games.

Five new sports, Taekwondo, Water Polo, Indoor Soccer, Highland Pipes & Drums and Poker have been added to the schedule. Poker has been included in several editions of the World Firefighters Games, but this is believed to be the first time that a Highland Pipes & Drums competition has been included as an event in an international multisport competition. In total, fifty-seven sports will be on offer for the games.

Organizers are offering incentives for early registration (Dollar amounts are New Zealand dollars. Currently 1 US dollar = 1.57 NZD). According to the games press release entries received until October 31st, 2004 will cost 70 dollars, the entry fee will rise to $85 from November 1, 2004 until January 7, 2005 and after January 7, entries will be $110.

KL 2010 Asian Games bid KO'd by lack of government support?

April 14, 2004

The fight to host the 2010 Asian Games looks to be over before it even began after the new Malaysian government announced that it will not support the Olympic Council of Malaysia with a Kuala Lumpur bid.

The announcement might be the knock-out blow to Kuala Lumpur's chances to host the 2010 games, though on occasion there are surprise turnarounds. Kuala Lumpur's support for a bid has always been tepid at best from the time that they first announced an interest in the games.

Malaysia's Sports Minister Azalina Othman stated, "The Cabinet has decided that Malaysia does not bid to host the 2010 Asian Games because of the cost implications."

The decision leaves Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in southern China (formerly known as Canton) alone in the field, and one would assume that if the Olympic Council of Asia is pleased with their inspection visit this week, that the vote in July at the OCA meetings would simply be a stamp of approval for the city to host the games.

Support in Guangzhou has been high, with rallies, drives to sign up volunteers and fun-runs to publicize the games bid.

The race was reminiscent of the 2006 Commonwealth Games bid contest in which Melbourne, Australia simply outlasted other bid hopefuls Durban, South Africa, Barbados and Wellington, New Zealand, all who abandoned the race before the bid came to a vote.

For the 2010 Asian Games race, early interest was shown by cities such as Singapore, Kaoshiung, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Seoul. As the race progressed, Daegu, Korea; Amman, Jordan; Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou all had said they planned to bid. Only Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur submitted bids, with the Kuala Lumpur bid missing a letter of support from the government.

India and Korea have both mentioned interest in hosting the 2014 Asian Games.

Kuala Lumpur still lacks letter of support from Government

April 13, 2004

The federal government of Malaysia is still dragging its feet on whether or not it will provide a letter of approval and support for Kuala Lumpur's bid for the 2010 Asian Games.

Bids were submitted last month, with two cities, Amman, Jordan and Daegu, South Korea, dropping out of the race, leaving Guangzhou, China, and Kuala Lumpur the only competitors for the games. However, Malaysia's federal government has yet to say whether they support the games or not, one of the requirements placed on the bids by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar said that they will wait patiently for the decision of the cabinet. Jafar added that the delay was due to the recent change of government in Malaysia.

An OCA inspection team has finished their work in Kuala Lumpur, and will move on to Guangzhou shortly. The OCA team gave good marks to Kuala Lumpur, stating that there would be no problem, in terms of facilities, with holding the games in Kuala Lumpur.

Guangzhou has not hosted a major international games. Kuala Lumpur has hosted several South East Asian games (1965, 1971, 1977, 1989 and 2001) and has served as host of the Asian X Games and Asian Junior X Games for the past three years.

Indian Ocean Island Youth Games postponed to 2005

April 12, 2004

The Indian Island Youth Games scheduled for this summer in Réunion have been canceled and are now to be held in 2005. Réunion was reportedly having far too many difficulties organizing the games. If Réunion can not host the games, Mauritius has been asked to get ready to serve as an alternate site. If Mauritius is not ready, the games will be postponed until 2006.

The Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l'Océan Indien (CJSOI) still wants to have opportunities for its young athletes to compete and has proposed to hold several single sport championships for 14-17 year old athletes throughout its member nations.

Réunion will still host some activities, with the island assigned to host an athletic meeting, tennis and a cultural meeting between the months of September and November. Mauritius will host judo and girls basketball in August and Madagascar will host the boys football tournament. Seychelles will host a volleyball tournament December 3-6. Dates events and places are scheduled to be confirmed at the end of this month.

1972 Kenyan Gold Medallist Julius Sang dies

April 12, 2004

Julius Sang, one of Kenya's early Olympic stars, has died after falling ill several weeks ago with intestinal difficulties.

Sang, along with teammates Robert Ouko, Charles Asati and Hezekiah Nyamau, won the 4X400 meter gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

Sang was remembered for taking the baton in third place and passing runners from Poland and Germany to win the gold medal. He also won the bronze medal in the individual 400 meter race in 1972.

Sang and Robert Ouku were teammates at North Carolina Central in the United States in 1972.

Sang was a retired senior level Provincial Prisons Officer.

Sang was married to Tecla (also spelled Tekla) Chemabwai, a 400 and 800 meter runner and 1968 and 1972 Olympian, who won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 1973 African Games in Lagos, Nigeria, the 800 meter African Games gold medal in 1978 and the 1978 Commonwealth Games silver medal at 800 meters.

Crow will be allowed to swim in Athens

April 10, 2004

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. "

Australian legislators say Games will be on free TV by law

April 9, 2004

Australia's Federal Government has amended a law relating to television sports broadcasting, and added the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games to the list of "protected sports" that must only be shown on "free" TV.

The law gives only commercial networks rights to the games until 2010, but pay-TV sources said it was unlikely in any case that pay-TV stations in Australia would ever get the rights to the Olympic Games. Commercial broadcasters supported the decision anyway.

The "anti-siphoning list" was established some ten years ago so that certain significant sports events would not be "siphoned off" by pay-TV companies.

Now included on the list of events in Australia that are reserved for commercial television, along with the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games are:

-All Australian Football League (AFL) matches in the AFL Premiership and AFL Finals.

-National Rugby League (NRL) Premiership. All NRL state-of-origin matches. All matches of the Rugby World Cup. All Rugby test matches involving Australia played in Australia or overseas.

-The Melbourne Cup horse race,

-All Cricket test matches involving Australia, played in Australia or the UK. All one-day internationals involving Australia played in Australia, the UK or any series where at least one of the matches is played in Australia. All World Cup one-day cricket matches.

-Football. The English FA Cup final. All matches of the FIFA World Cup 2006.

-Tennis. All matches of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The French Open and US Open: singles quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals match. All Davis Cup matches involving Australia.

-Netball. All international netball matches involving the senior Australian representative team whether played in Australia or overseas.

-Golf. Every round of the Australian Masters, the Australian Open, the US Masters, and the British Open.

-Motor Sports. All races of the FIA Formula 1 Grand Prix held in Australia, the Moto GP held in Australia, the Australian Touring Car Championship, every Bathurst 1000 race and every race in the Australian IndyCar Grand Prix.

Another proposal for Europe-Asia Games

April 8, 2004

Germany's ambassador to Malaysia, Juergen Starks, has suggested it is time for the two regions to get together and hold some sort of European Union-Asean Games, with Kuala Lumpur as host.

Starks, who resides in Kuala Lumpur, made the remarks at a farewell reception for some members of the German athletics team who had been in Malaysia training with Malaysian athletes. "I see no reason why an inter-region Games should not be held, and I also believe Kuala Lumpur, given the excellent facilities here, should host the inaugural Games" said Starks.

There is a project already in the works for younger athletes from the two regions to participate together. The inaugural ASEM (Asia - Europe Meeting) youth games announced in July of last year, are scheduled for October 2004 to be held in Thailand. It is assumed that Stark proposal is for older athletes competing at the Olympic level rather than youth athletes.

The continent of Europe discussed for nearly two decades in the sixties and seventies the possibility of hosting continental games for Olympic caliber athletes, but has never been able to pull any games together. The European Youth Olympic Days was established as a continental wide games for the younger age group instead.

India tops at SAF Games

April 7, 2004

As expected, for the ninth time in nine games, India's sportsmen and women took home the most medals from the South Asian Federation Games.

India gathered 101 gold medals, with host Pakistan winning 42.

9th SAF Games Medals Table

Pakistan equaled its gold medal total from the last time it hosted the games, in 1989, but won more silver and bronze medals (55 to 33 and 50 to 22) this time around.

Pakistan Olympic Official were getting ready to open up their check book and make good on the promise to reward SAF gold medallists with 1 million rupees ($17,424 US), half a million rupees for silver ($8712 US) and 200,000 rupees for bronze ($3485 US). With 42 gold medals ($ 731,808), 55 silver ($479,160) and 50 bronze ($174,250) the total bill to the Olympic committee will run some $1,385,218 US.

In comparison, any Pakistani winning an Olympic gold medal will be rewarded with 10 million rupees, Asian games gold medalists, 5 million rupees In addition, medal winners would get 50% discounts on airfares on the Pakistani nation airline and 40% discounts on Pakistani Railways.

Afghanistan participated in the games for the first time, and the total of 32 medals is believed to be the most ever won by Afghanistan at an international games. Afghani athletes won one silver medal at the 1954 Asian Games, and one silver at each of the 1962, 1974 and 2002 Asian Games. Afghani athletes have yet to win an Olympic medal and have competed in very few games outside of the Olympic and Asian Games.

Games officials voted to change the name of the games from the South Asian Federation Games to the South Asian Games. Attempting to regain their usual biennial schedule, the next games are scheduled for 2005 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Canada choosing city for 2009 WUG bid

April 7, 2004

Montreal and Edmonton have both submitted letters of intent to Canadian Interuniversity Sport to bid for the 2009 World University Games. Bid documents, when submitted, must include commitment of financial support from all relevant government entities.

The CIS is scheduled to choose one of the cities on May 17, 2004 to present a bid to FISU by the 30th of June of this year. Montreal's letter outlines a bid from the City of Montreal in conjunction with the Universite de Montreal, McGill University, Concordia University, Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), and Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS).

Edmonton's proposal is a cooperation of the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta.

Edmonton hosted the games in 1983 and if they were to win a bid again would become only the third city to host a FISU Summer University Games more than one time.

Since 1959 (the first year that FISU was in charge of the games) only two cities have hosted the games twice. Turin in 1959 and 1970 (when it rescued the games that Portugal had abandoned) and Sofia, Bulgaria in 1961 and 1977.

Brazil 2007: Focused on Pan American preparations

April 6, 2004

Brazil is planning the 2007 Pan American Games for mid-July, still well over three years away, but so far, preparations are looking like they will be on time.

Numerous sport events that Rio organizers are using as test events have either already been held, or are scheduled.

This past week Rio hosted the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at the Riocentro Convention Center, with the International Gymnastics Federation announcing they were pleased with the organization of the event. A pre-Olympic boxing tournament is also being held in the same facility this week, and also being touted as a 2007 test event. A track meet in May will also be used by 2007 organizers to test their capabilities.

Yachting, water polo, swimming and modern pentathlon events have also been held this year, all with an eye towards 2007, as well as the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Rio's 2007 Pan American Games web site contains a great deal of information in Portuguese, Spanish and English, related to preparations for the games.

CPLP Games to invite Brazil to participate?

April 6, 2004

Committee members for the Games of Portuguese Speaking Countries met in Angola this week to go over preparations for the CPLP (Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa) Games to be held in Luanda in 2005.

CPLP members agreed that preparations are on pace and venues will be ready for the games. The commission adjusted the age limits for participation to 16 and under for able bodies participants and 20 and under for paralympic participants.

Eduardo Borges Pereira, vice president of the Sports Institute of Portugal, mentioned that Brazil does not plan to participate in the 2005 games, though the other members would prefer Brazil's inclusion in the games. (It is not yet known whether or not Brazil has participated in any of the previous four CPLP games.)

African University Games delayed

April 6, 2004

Bauchi's African University Games have run into financial difficulties and have been postponed for several weeks. Not all of the sponsors that said they would be able to provide funds have been able to do so. About 1.1 US has been budgeted for the games.

The games were scheduled to be held April 14-24 in Bauchi, Nigeria, at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University but have been postponed to May 22-31, 2004.

The sponsorship of Mercedes Benz , which was to supply vehicles for the games, has been postponed by red tape, as they were supposed to be given a waiver of import fees, which has not yet been granted.

Organizers still hope to welcome athletes from twelve African nations if the games open in May.

2010 Asian Games field cut in half

April 6, 2004

Daegu, South Korea and Amman, Jordan have officially dropped out of the bidding for the 2010 Asian Games, leaving Guangzhou, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to wrestle for the 2010 prize.

The Olympic Council of Asia is sending a seven person delegation to Kuala Lumpur this week for an inspection visit.

Kuala Lumpur has presented a somewhat uncertain resolve in past months concerning their bid, not wanting to pursue a bid if the competition were too heated, and at first, not wanting to go along with the marketing agreement terms set up by the OCA. Malaysia's official bid also lacked an official letter of support from the government, which is required by the OCA. Malaysian Olympic officials are hoping the letter will be delivered this week, and also sent a letter to the Olympic Council of Asia asking them to postpone their evaluation committee visit set for April 12-13 until Malaysia could deliver the letter.

The OCA will probably not postpone the visit, and the deadline for any letter of support is not until July 1.

Kuala Lumpur, using much the same argument that Delhi used to land the 2010 Commonwealth Games, has stated that they should be given the Asian Games, because they have yet to host them, while China has hosted the Asian Games in 1990, the Asian Winter Games in 1996, and will host the 2007 Asian Winter Games and 2008 Olympic Games.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi mentioned that winning the bid for the 2010 Asian Games would make Kuala Lumpur a contender for a future Olympic bid, saying, "it is a prerequisite that any city wanting to host the Olympics should have hosted a major Games." Statistical evidence overwhelming runs counter to this theory, as both the vast majority of cities that have hosted an Asian Games or other major games (Commonwealth, Pan American, Mediterranean or World University Games) have never hosted an Olympic Games, and the majority of those cities that have hosted an Olympic Games, have never previously hosted another major games.

Cook Islands wins 2009 South Pacific Mini Games bid

April 3, 2004

The South Pacific Mini Games council has voted to award the right to host the 2009 South Pacific Mini Games to the Cook Islands. The council voted 28-15 for the Cook Islands over Wallis & Futuna.

The South Pacific Games Council met in Palau, site of the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games, to review planning for those games.

The South Pacific Mini Games have so far been hosted by: Honiara, Solomon Islands (1981), Rarotonga, Cook Islands (1985) Nukualofa, Tonga (1989), Port Vila, Vanuatu (1993), Pago Pago, American Samoa (1997) and Kingston, Norfolk Island (2001).

Participants in the games are: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Marianas, Palau, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna and Western Samoa.

Melbourne announces 2006 Commonwealth Mascot

April 2, 2004

The south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo will serve as the mascot for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The mascot version will be named Karak, chosen to sound like the call of the cockatoo.

The bird is an endangered species in Australia, with reportedly only 300 mating pairs in existence.

Karak's photo album, bio and email address are at the Melbourne 2006 web site at http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/mmascot.asp

Sydney's Centre for Olympic Studies to get a new home

April 2, 2004

Australia's Centre for Olympic Studies, which has been located at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) for nearly eight years is moving to the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) after a policy change by UNSW.

Last year the UNSW introduced a policy that no study centre at the University may exist on a continuing and permanent basis.

The Centre closed at UNSW on March 31, 2004, and will be located at the University of Technology in the future. The UTS Olympic Studies website is currently http://www.business.uts.edu.au/olympic

Rendez-Vous 2006 to become OutGames 2006

April 1, 2004

The fractured turf of the world of gay sport has shifted once again with the establishment of GLISA, the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, and a new multisport event, the "OutGames."

Rendez-Vous 2006, the former Gay Games of Montreal, will now be renamed and become the first "OutGames."

GLISA will be looking for a permanent headquarters, and will begin promoting their activities and events, including beginning a bid process for the 2009 OutGames.