ANOC Prepares for Lausanne Assembly; Majority Support Oslo 2022

ANOC Prepares for Lausanne Assembly

Leaders of the Association of National Olympic Committees are meeting in Lausanne this week to finalize preparations for the extraordinary general meeting in June.

ANOC secretary general Gunilla Lindberg tells Around the Rings that she expects a busy few days working with colleagues to prepare for the 700 delegates who will attend the ANOC assembly in two months’ time.

Proposals for ANOC’s new-look constitution, which have remained untouched throughout Mario Vanzquez Rana’s 30 years at the helm, are set to be approved on June 15.

ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad al Fahad al Sabah will lead the meeting.

Presentations from the 2020 candidate cities are also on the agenda.

"It’s the only time to present to all NOCs and that is of big interest," Lindberg told ATR.

Reports will come from Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 organizing committees. Officials from Youth Olympic host cities of Nanjing and Innsbruck are also scheduled to update delegates.

A reception for NOC representatives in the gardens of the new office development is tentatively planned for June 16. Renovations of an old building behind the Lausanne Palace Hotel are underway to transform it into ANOC’s new HQ. The office won’t officially open until spring 2014.

"It is working well. Everything is ready and signed with the new offices," the Swedish IOC member added.

Majority Support Oslo 2022

A new poll finds that 51 percent of Oslo residents support the city’s bid for the 2022 Olympics.

Results were posted on the bid’s website, and 35 percent of those surveyed say they have a negative opinion of the bid.

Crucially, 57 percent of those polled who said they plan to vote in the September referendum on the bid say they are in favor of a bid.

In January, a poll found 47 percent of Oslo citizens in favor of bidding. Bid leader Eli Grimsby said the increase in support is due to increased attention for the bid.

On Monday, the first committee meeting with all government and sport stakeholders for the bid met in Oslo. The committee will meet every two weeks to finalize bid details.

The committee will draft the proposal for an April 25 vote by the city council. The measure will be sent to the national government for approval and securing guarantees.

Russian Warns of More Doping

The head of the Russian athletics federation warns more positive drug tests could be announced soon.

Last week, the federation handed out retroactive competition bans to three athletes, including gold medalists Olga Kuzenkova and Svetlana Krivelyova when they failed drug tests.

"Don’t be surprised if you hear about a few more suspensions coming our way," Valentin Balakhnichyov told Reuters.

"It’s simple arithmetic – the more you test, the more people are likely be caught. Together with the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) we do more drugs tests than any other country in the world.

"Some nations only do 500 tests a year. On the other hand, last year we conducted 3,500 tests and this year we plan to do over 4,000 tests in and out of competition," he added.

Player Critical of Rio Course Selection

Nine-time major tournament winner Gary Player says he is upset with how the architect of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 golf course was selected.

"I just felt I could’ve done more for golf in Brazil in the future than will be done," Player told the Associated Press in reference to current architect Gil Hanse. "I would have come back here many times and promoted junior golf, would’ve brought tournaments here, the Gary Player Invitational...Those were ideas we had but we lost, that’s fine, you move on."

He also expressed surprise over the legal fight that caused a delay in building the course.

"Have they not started the course? You mean they could stop it?" he said. "That is very disconcerting. Not a pleasant way to work. You could do a golf course in two years, but to have the golf course in what I call perfect conditions you need three years. If they started already, it’s fine, but they don’t want to stop it now, they want to keep going."

Written by Ed Hula III.

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