Innsbruck 2012 Torch Relay; New Madrid Mayor; Rogge on Greek Debt, Athens Games

Innsbruck 2012 Torch Relay Kicks Off

The torch relay for the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games is underway.

Lit earlier this month at Olympia, the flame spent the past 10 days on display in a specially made cauldron before leaving Innsbruck this morning for the 18-day, 3,573km journey ahead.

A total of 2,012 torch bearers will carry the Olympic flame to Innsbruck and across the whole of Austria, stopping at 65 locations. The last, of course, will be Bergisel Stadium for the Jan. 13 opening ceremony.

The first-ever Winter YOG will follow through Jan. 22 with 1,000-plus athletes ages 15-18 from more than 65 countries competing across 15 winter sports disciplines in a total of 63 medal events, 14 of them featuring at an Olympics for the first time.

Rogge on Greek Debt, Athens Games

IOC president Jacques Rogge says the belief that unbridled spending on Olympic preparations pushed Greece towards its current debt crisis is not only plausible but accurate.

"You can fairly say that the 2004 Games played their part," he was quoted Monday by Athens daily Kathimerini.

"If you look at the external debt of Greece, there could be up to 2 to 3 percent of that which could be attributed to the Games. It could have been staged at a much lower cost, as there were delays that rendered double shifts necessary, and having people work at night does cost more."

Rogge also called out the 2004 hosts for poor post-Games utilization of Olympic venues.

He was part of an IOC envoy to Greece earlier this month for the lighting of the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games flame at Olympia.

New Madrid Mayor Supports Olympic Bid

Madrid’s new mayor appears committed to campaigning for the 2020 Olympics.

Despite the Spanish capital’s large debt, Ana Botella said Tuesday the bid is still feasible, according to an AFP report.

"Among our aims, Madrid's effort to be an Olympic city has an important place – a commitment that we are renewing with our eyes on the 2020 Games," she said after being sworn into office.

"To accomplish it, no new spending is needed until the IOC's decision, because we have already built 80 percent of the necessary infrastructure."

Botella, the wife of former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, is the first female mayor of Madrid. She follows Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, who was recently appointed as a justice minister.

Ruiz-Gallardon played key roles in Madrid’sbids for 2012 and 2016. The capital is now competing with Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Rome and Tokyo for 2020.

OlympicsPlea from Baseball Boss

Riccardo Fraccari looks forward to a 2012 "full of new and continued successes" in his end-of-year address to members of the International Baseball Federation.

Whether that includes Olympic reinstatement won’t actually be determined until 2013.

"What awaits us now is the planning and implementation of what the Congress decided in Dallas, while remaining fully committed to the Olympic reinstatement campaign," the IBAF president writes in a letter posted Tuesday to ibaf.org.

"Onthis seriously important matter, we all need to work as a team and with great determination. Itis for this reason that I ask each federation to keep close contacts with its Olympic Committee to request support for our campaign."

Fraccari also touched upon the ongoing reorganization of IBAF as well as its flagship events of the past year, including the 12U championships in Taiwan, the 16U champs in Mexico, the Baseball World Cup in Panama and the Dec. 3 congress in Dallas.

Baseball is in talks with softball to present a joint pitch for the 2020 Games after both sports were dropped post-Beijing.They’re now among eight shortlisted by the IOC ahead of a 2013 decision, though it's expected there will be room for only one to join the program.

Judo Champ Faces Rape Charges

Olympic champion judoka Masato Uchishiba will face rape charges filed Tuesday by Tokyo prosecutors.

According to AP reports, he was arrested earlier this month and now stands accused of raping a teenager after intoxicating her.

Uchishiba, who won 66kg gold medal at the 2004 and 2008 Games before retiring last year, was coaching the women’s judo team at Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare in his native Japan until his firing late last month over sexual harassment allegations.

Media Watch

In a journal entry of sorts titled "One Road, Death, Life - Judo Brings Back Smiles" and posted Monday to the website of the International Judo Federation, comms director Nicolas Messner chronicles an IJF delegation’s visit to Rikuzentakata, Japan earlier this month to assess the progress of reconstruction in one of the areas hit hardest by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Written by Matthew Grayson and Ann Cantrell.

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