(ATR) Around the Rings has learned that the IOC is in talks with Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo about returning as a TOP sponsor in a newly created category.
Lenovo signed a deal in 2004 to become the first Chinese company to join the IOC’s worldwide partner program. The agreement covered the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics and Beijing 2008 Games.
But it dropped the Olympic sponsorship after Beijing. In 2009, Taiwan-based Acer was named to take over the global sponsorship.
Acer departed the TOP sponsorship program last year. The IOC set the target of replacing the company with a new category incorporating tablets to reflect the boom in usage worldwide.
ATR understands that Lenovo is one of several companies interested in filling that category.
The Beijing-based company appears to fit the bill. In May, Lenovo reported that sales of smartphones and other mobile Internet devices soared 74 per cent to $736 million.
It has made no secret of its plans to heavily invest in the fast-growing tablet, smartphone and enterprise hardware areas, and an IOC partnership may help it further its global ambitions.
On Tuesday, ATR confirmed that GlaxoSmithKline was one of the companies in discussions with the IOC about joining the TOP sponsor program.
The IOC hopes to have its 11th and 12 top-tier sponsors for the Rio 2016 Olympics before the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September.
Bach Open to Blatter World Cup Switch
IOC presidential candidate Thomas Bach is satisfied that Sepp Blatter’s plan to move the FIFA Qatar 2022 World Cup to the winter months will not impact the 2022 Olympics.
"There will be no conflict because president Sepp Blatter has clearly stated that he prefers November, December 2022 for the organisation of the FIFA World Cup," Bach said.
"This would be nine months away from the Olympic Winter Games."
Concerns had been voiced that switching the 2022 FIFA showpiece to winter to avoide the desert heat in the Gulf nation would clash with that year’s Games.
The FIFA president, who has over the past two years revised his views on a move to staging Qatar 2022 in winter, yesterday made comments suggesting he is now strongly in favor of the switch. He said discussions would be held at the executive committee meeting on October 3 and 4.
"The executive committee will certainly follow my proposal. Then we will have dealt with it for good," was quoted by the SID news agency as saying at a two-day sports conference in Austria.
Qatar 2022’s bid book submission included plans to hold the tournament in air-conditioned stadia.
Blatter cited new medical evidence highlighting the dangers to players and fans of playing games in temperatures of up to 50C in the June to July World Cup window. Temperatures are a comfortable 20C in the Qatari winter.
He added: "The Fifa World Cup must be a festival of the people, but, for it to be such a festival, you can't play football in the summer."
Qatar 2022 organising committee chief Hassan Al-Thawadi, speaking to the conference via satellite link, reiterated his previous statements on a winter World Cup: "If it’s a wish of the football community to have the World Cup in winter, then we are open to that."
Relocating the FIFA World Cup to winter would have a huge impact on the European leagues.
The English Premier League has always objected to the idea. "We are opposed to the concept of a winter World Cup for very obvious practical reasons that would impact on all of European domestic football," it said in a statement.
Munich 2022 Decision
The German Olympic Sports Confederation will decide on whether to submit a winter 2022 Olympic bid from Munich at a meeting on Sept. 30.
The decision will be based on the outcome of the race for the 2020 summer Games and results of regional and federal government elections. If the Green Party, who objected to Munich’s 2018 bid, form part of the government it will make it harder for the Bavarian city to pitch for 2022. At this stage, such a scenario is unlikely.
Referendums in Munich and in the mountain resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen about another Olympic bid are scheduled for Nov. 10.
The IOC has set a Nov. 14 deadline for expressions of interest in the 2022 Olympics from NOCs.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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