Olympic Newsdesk -- Chinese NOC Says Harbin Unlikely; NGBs Want Answers on Olympic Network

COC president Liu Peng says the organization has no plans to discuss a Harbin 2018 Olympic bid. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)COC President Says Harbin Bid Unlikely

Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Peng tells Around the Rings that a bid by Harbin to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics is unlikely.

“No decision has been made yet. But I think it will be difficult for Harbin because there are already some very strong competitors,” Liu told ATR in Beijing during a break in celebrations to mark the one year anniversary of the 2008 Olympics.

Liu said there were no plans for the COC to discuss the matter at this time.

He also said Harbin’s experience of bidding for the 2010 Olympics showed how much work it needs to do if it is to host the Games. Vancouver won that bid race to stage the Winter Games next February. Harbin was also eliminated from the bid contest to stage the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games; Innsbruck, Austria will hold the YOG.

Liu’s comments came in response to an AFP report published Thursday claiming Harbin was preparing a bid to host the 2018 Games.

Harbin did host a successful 2009 Winter Universiade in February, an event regarded by Chinese officials as a test of the city's ability to host a Winter Games. The city spent an estimated $440 million on venues for the event.

Munich, Germany, Pyeongchang in South Korea and Annecy in France are so far the only cities to announce their intentions to bid for the 2018 Olympics.

The IOC launched the rules for the bidding process last week. National Olympic committees have until October 15 to nominate an applicant city. The IOC vote is scheduled for the session in Durban, South Africa on July 6, 2011.

National Governing Bodies Seek Answers on U.S. Olympic Network

The U.S. Olympic Committee will meet later this month with members of a newly-formed NGB committee on broadcast input to discuss the proposed U.S. Olympic Network.

Skip Gilbert, chair of the NGB Council, is not on the committee, but tells Around the Rings that the national governing bodies are anxious to know how the network will affect them.

"The NGBs, we all love the idea, and we're just waiting for more information like everybody else," he says.

USOC Acting CEO Stephanie Streeter put together the committee after Gilbert sent her a letter with 19 questions about the initiative. Chief Operating Officer Norman Bellingham, who is in charge of the network, will meet with the group.

"Once we get to Norman Bellingham, he'll be able to shed light on some of those details," Gilbert said, “and more of the questions can't be answered until they get further down the road with (partner) Comcast."

Some of the smaller NGBs depend on the USOC for funding and are worried about the cost of running the network.

"Knowing Norman Bellingham, I can't imagine he'd do anything to jeopardize the operational component of an NGB," Gilbert said.

Fromme Foiled by USOC Chief of Security

A Secret Service agent who became the USOC's Chief of Security thwarted Lynette A. "Squeaky" Fromme in 1975 when she tried to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford. Fromme will be released from federal prison Aug. 16.

Larry Buendorf, seen most recently on World Championships pool deck in Rome with Michael Phelps, spotted Fromme pointing a gun at Ford from about two feet away.

He grabbed Fromme's gun with one hand and her arm with the other, and the pistol fell to the ground. According to reports, the gun had a loaded magazine but no cartridge in the chamber, so it would not have immediately fired.

Fromme was a follower of Charles Manson, whose "Manson family" killed seven people in California.

BOA Chief Wades into New 2012 Funding Debate

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt has criticized a joint-marketing deal with LOCOG. (Getty Images)Andy Hunt, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, has criticized the "horrible constraints" imposed by the organization's $50 million joint-marketing agreement with London 2012 organizers.

An agreement between the BOA and the London organising committee (LOCOG) in 2005 effectively signed away most of the BOA's rights to strike deals with sponsors. BOA chairman Lord Moynihan said publicly in June that the LOCOG agreement "was not a good deal".

"I am horribly constrained. I describe it as my hands are handcuffed behind my back," Hunt was quoted in U.K. newspaper the Daily Telegraph. "

"They are then tied with bailing twine over the top of my head. And then I'm bound in a straitjacket, put in a metal cage and it's called the joint marketing program agreement with LOCOG. It was done before I got there and it is horribly constraining."

LOCOG said it had renegotiated parts of the deal, leading to an increase in income to the BOA and British Paralympic Association. The BOA made a reported $2.5 million pre-tax loss in 2008.

With reporting from Ed Hula, Mark Bisson and Karen Rosen.

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