News from the NOCs -- Asian Chief Reflects on Year; Austrian Gathering

OCA President Looks Back on Busy Four Months

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah is one thankful man.

In a letter made available Tuesday to Around the Rings, the Olympic Council of Asia president reflects on a four-month span during which his continent put on three Asian Games, an OCA first.

"I am so proud of the successful staging of the 16th Asian Games 2010 in Guangzhou, the 2nd Asian Beach Games 2010 in Muscat and the 7th Asian Winter Games 2011 in Astana and Almaty," writes the IOC member from Kuwait.

"These three Games reflect the rapid development of Asian sport, with the involvement of all 45 National Olympic Committees of the OCA and the participation of 12,300 athletes in a total of 67 sports."

Among Sheikh Ahmad’s sources of pride are the mere dozen positive drug tests returned out of 2,224 conducted, the wide distribution of medals to most of Asia’s 45 countries, and the legacies of the Asian Games Town in south Guangzhou as well as Al-Musannah Sports City on the beaches of Oman.

Nowhere throughout the 800-word letter does the OCA president seem to take credit for these accomplishments.

Instead, he spares no one in a barrage of gratitude.

Among those he thanks are OCA staff, officials and executive board members; the IOC; the World Anti-Doping Agency; both the international and Asian federations of those 67 sports contested across the three Games; sponsors; media; and the leaders, governments and organizing committees of host countries China, Oman and Kazakhstan as well as the many volunteers from each.

Sheikh Ahmad then glimpses ahead at the OCA’s schedule for the coming decade, one that includes the 3rd Asian Beach Games in Haiyang, China, in 2012; the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, in 2013; the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon, Korea, in 2013; the 4th Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand, in 2014; the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, in 2014; the 5th Asian Beach Games in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 2016; the 8th Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, in 2017; and the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in 2017.

"The OCA now begins a new chapter in its history, and we must continue to improve Asian sport and take the Olympic Movement to a higher level," he writes.

"Thisis a busy calendar and a big challenge for us, but I believe with our Olympic Solidarity and our OCA family spirit we will work together and overcome any obstacles to make our own Asian sports movement a better and bigger success."

Sheikh Ahmad will stand for reelection as president at executive board elections during the OCA’s July 14 general assembly in Tokyo.

Memorial for Sailer

Austrian skiing legend Toni Sailer received quite the tribute last week.

Thursday’s gathering came roughly 18 months after he died of cancer and exactly 55 years since he became the first man to win Olympic gold in downhill, slalom and giant slalom at the same Games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge revealed via a video message that Sailer was his childhood idol.

In attendance were 60 Olympic medal winners spanning the past eight decades as well as the NOC president of Czech Republic, Slovakia and, of course, Austria.

The memorial led off the screening of a film from Sailer’s post-skiing days as an actor and wrapped up in the halls of a Vienna hotel that had been redecorated as a Hall of Fame for the country’s most famous Olympia.

Funeral Set

The funeral for Ben Solaita, the late president of the American Samoa National Olympic Committee, will take place on Wednesday.

According to media reports, his family will have a service at the LBJ Medical Center in Pago Pago. On Thursday, his remains will be removed from the hospital.

Solaita Jan. 27 at the age of 61. He was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 21 following a stroke and remained in a coma until his death.

He served as ASNOC president for 14 years, being reelected on Jan. 15, 2009.

The U.S. territory has never medaled.

Frank Roberts, First Aboriginal Olympian, 65

Frank Roberts, the first Indigenous Australian Olympian died on Monday of a heart attack.

A welterweight, Roberts competed at the 1964 Olympics, where he was also the youngest boxer on the squad. He lost in the first round to eventual bronze medalist Pertti Purhonen of Finland, who died Feb. 5.

Following his Olympic career, Roberts trained young boxers in his home of Armidale, New South Wales.

Written by Ed Hula III.