ICYMI: High-Speed Connection for Beijing 2022; Women Shape New IOC in Asia

High-Speed Connection for Beijing 2022

(ATR) The high-speed rail line connecting the co-host cities of the 2022 Winter Olympics is operational.

The first train left Beijing’s North Railway Station Monday morning for Zhangjiakou in north China’s Hebei Province, according to Xinhua.

The train, with a maximum speed of 350 km/h (217 mph), reduces the travel time from Beijing to Zhangjiakou from more than three hours to as little as 47 minutes. There are 10 stations along the 174 kilometer (108 mile) route. The 53km Chongli railway is a branch line of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway, with a maximum design speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).

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David Stern, 77, Former NBA Commissioner

(ATR) Former NBA Commissioner David Stern, the man responsible for growing the league and basketball to a global level, is dead at age 77.

When Stern became NBA commissioner in 1984, he inherited a league that still wasn’t showing all of its playoff games on live network TV. But thanks to players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the NBA would begin a surge in popularity. Under Stern’s leadership, the league would grow to a more than $5 billion a year industry and was arguably the world’s second most popular sport behind soccer by 2014, when he stepped aside for Adam Silver.

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NextGen 2020 - Women Shape New IOC in Asia

(ATR) Lingwei Li of China has become an important figure in the IOC as a member of the cocomms for Dakar 2022 and Paris 2024. An IOC member since 2012, she already has served as chair of the IOC cocomm for the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games. She’s a member of the Audit and Program commissions. Li was head of international relations for Beijing 2008.

MikaelaCojuangco Jaworski is in her sixth year as an IOC member. A broadcaster by profession in the Philippines, she’s also active with the NOC. On the IOC she’s a member of the cocomms for Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Potentially she can remain on the IOC for 25 more years.

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Panam Gala: Walking the Red Carpet

(ATR) - More than 70 athletes from the 41 Panam Sports nations walked the red carpet in Ft. Lauderdale recently.

Attendees could be forgiven for thinking they might be in Hollywood. The event was produced by Univision-TUDN and live-streamed worldwide via the Panam Sports Channel, ESPN Play, Claro TV and R7 of Brazil.

ATR Publisher Sheila S. Hula was there to record the festivities. She says she thinks there were a lot of sore feet the next day.

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NextGen 2020 - Paralympics

(ATR) The 2020 Paralympics will be the first for Andrew Parsons since becoming International Paralympic Committee president in 2017. He has plenty of experience as a leader of the Paralympics in the Americas, including a major role in the staging of the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Since 2018 he’s been a member of the IOC and will lend his expertise to the cocomms for Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.

Among the possible stars in Tokyo are two U.S. athletes. Tatyana McFadden won two gold medals in Rio as a wheelchair racer and could repeat in Tokyo.

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