Funeral Set for Piotr Nurowski
Members of the European Olympic Committee will pay their respects to late Polish Olympic Committee President Piotr Nurowski at a funeral on Monday in Warsaw.
Nurowski died last Saturday in the plane crash that also killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski near the Smolensk airport in Russia. Russian authorities are investigating the crash.
Russian investigators said on Thursday that the block box rebutted talk that the pilots were pressured to land by the high profile members on the flight. The plane made repeated passes around the airport in heavy fog.
FIVB Examines Finances and Federations
International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) President Jizhong Wei hopes to give more power to national federations and confederations.
During his open remarks to FIVB Board of Administration, Wei outlined his goals to transfer authority and funds to national federations. The FIVB Board of Administration is meeting in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from Wednesday to Friday.
"One of the goals of the FIVB is to lead and to share," Wei said. "Starting this year we’ll put a lot of financial resources for development and reserve a development fund which will be available to all national federations and confederations. If a member has a good idea, send the project to the FIVB for approval. All profit belongs to the national federation members so we have the obligation to serve all our national federations and all our players. We have to go to the origin, the players are our first priority."
The first day of meetings included the approval of budgets from 2010 to 2013. The board also reviewed an external audit conduct by Ernst & Young.
USA Swimming in Hot Water
USA Swimming is facing criticism of its handling of numerous child molestation cases by certified coaches following reports by ABC’s 20/20 this month.
After airing of the report, USA Swimming President ChuckWielgus urged those involved in the sport to report cases of child molestation to the police and to him directly. USA Swimming and Wieglus faced criticism that it did not respond effectively to complaints.
Wielgus apologized to USA Swimming members, coaches and parents of USA Swimming in an open letter.
Wielgus is one of the key figures of the U.S. Olympic movement. He leads one of the largest sports federations in the country. In January, he was on the shortlist of two people including Scott Blackmun to become the next CEO of the USOC.
Click here to see th20/20 report on USA Swimming.
Panathenian Stadium Reopens for Public
Panathenian Stadium opened to the public this week following a lengthy refurbishment led by the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
The ancient stadium hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and archery at the Athens 2004 Games.
"Today, we went back centuries, and unravel the tangled web of history Stadium, which is inextricably tied to the history of Athens," President of the HOC Spyros Capralos.
"To my colleagues in the Greek Olympic Committee and for me personally, today is not only unique, it is fulfilling a dream."
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With reporting from Ed Hula III and Sam Steinberg.