NOCs News -- Interim Committee to Govern Athletics Namibia

Interim Committee Selected to Govern Athletics Namibia

The Namibia Sports Commission, in light of the organization’s stalemated presidential election, appointed a three-person interim committee on Wednesday to govern Athletics Namibia until a new president is elected.

Former Namibian Olympic Committee secretary general Abner Xoagub was appointed to the committee, along with former middle distance runner Agnes Samaria and veteran sports administrator Donovan Zealand.

The interim commission, which replaces a previous executive committee, was created to fill the leadership vacuum at Athletics Namibia. This hole was created after the organization’s presidential election on Nov. 28 between incumbent president Alpha Kangueehi and 1992 and 1996 Olympic silver-medal sprinter Frank Fredericks ended in a stalemate, with each candidate receiving four votes.

“Since the old committee was dissolved, the regions asked the Namibia Sport Commission to facilitate the process to elect an interim committee to run the affairs of Athletics Namibia,” NSC chief administrator Rusten Mogane said.

The interim committee will organize a congress to hold new presidential elections for Athletics Namibia as well as running the organization’s day-by-day operations on a temporary basis.

Mutsauki Eyes Top ANOCA Post

Zimbabwe Olympic Committee President Robert Mutsauki has expressed his interest in running for secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in elections to be held at the ANOCA General Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria in late June or early July.

Mutsauki is seeking to replace Gustavo Conceicao of Angola, who resigned as secretary general in November.

“As you go through my manifesto, you will see that I’ve laid out a number of deliverables which constitute my 10-point plan for ANOCA.” Mutsauki said.

“However, I’m under no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead should I be elected as ANOCA secretary general. This is not going to be a walk in the park as there are about 101 things to be done. So it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to achieve the desired results but I’m for this challenge and I also believe ANOCA is ready for a positive change and development which I’m promising to deliver.”

Hockey Canada Logo Story Correction

The Canadian Olympic Committee has pointed out inaccuracies in a report titled “Ban for Hockey Canada Logo at 2010 Games” published by Around the Rings Jan. 8. The article incorrectly stated that the IOC implemented a rule banning the use of national federation logos in 1996, saying the rule can be overlooked with the approval of a country’s national Olympic committee. It said the Canadian Olympic Committee had given Hockey Canada an exemption for the last three Winter Olympics, but declined to give its approval in 2010.

Contrary to what was reported, the COC said that Rule 51 of the Olympic Charter makes no allowance or provision for the IOC to overlook the rule “with the approval of a country's national Olympic committee.” On Jan. 7, the IOC released and distributed its "Guidelines Regarding Authorized Identifications at the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver 2010." Section 3 of the guidelines makes no provision for any exemption or "overlooking" of them.

The COC said it had not “given Hockey Canada an exemption for the last three Winter Olympics," saying it had no authority to exempt under the IOC rule. But as the IOC did not enforce this rule for those Winter Games, the COC in turn did not enforce it. The IOC has made it clear that the rule will be enforced for Vancouver 2010 and the COC has communicated this to the national sports federations.

Sarajevo Celebrates 25th Anniversary of 1984 Winter Olympics

Sarajevo held the Ski Legend Hit Challenge to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the city hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics.

The event was held at the Mount Bjelasnica resort in Bosnia and Herzegovina in late December.

A number of skiing legends participated in the event, including Alberto Tomba of Italy, Ingmar Stenmark of Sweden, Austrians Anton Steiner, Han Enn and Franz Klammer and Slovenians Bojan Krizaj and Mateja Svet. Jure Franko, who became Yugoslavia’s first Winter Olympic medal winner with his silver medal in the men’s giant slalom at the 1984 Games, with 1984 men’s downhill gold medalist Bill Johnson of the U.S. also made an appearance.

Philippine Olympic Committee Convenes Executive Board Meeting

The Philippine Olympic Committee executive board is meeting this week to deal with disputes in a number of the country’s national sports associations.

The POC will contend with problems in archery, billiards, badminton, cycling, karate, swimming, wrestling and wushu during the meeting.

POC secretary-general Steve Hontiveros says the organization seeks to resolve all the disputes so the NSA’s can put their full attention on various international competitions in 2009.

“NSA problems must be settled as soon as possible so as not to hamper the country’s preparation for the Southeast Asian Games and other major international tournaments,” Hontiveros said.

The executive board will also form a committee that will work with the Philippine Sports Commission to prepare for Filipino participation in the Southeast Asia Games in Vientiane, Laos Dec. 9-15, with Mario Tanchagro to be officially ratified as the chef de mission for the competition.

Philippine Sports Commission to Focus More on Grassroots Development

The Philippine Sports Commission says it will devote more attention towards discovering young athletic prospects from the grassroots for 10 Olympic sports.

The PSC is shifting its attention to grassroots development from elite programs, which will be taken up by the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The organization will focus on sports where the Philippines has a strong chance for a medal in the Olympics or pick at least 30 elite athletes from a group of 10 sports that are contested in the Games – aquatics, athletics, taekwondo, boxing, shooting, archery, weightlifting, fencing, judo and wrestling.

“We have to focus on these priority sports to maximize our resources,” PSC Commissioner Eric Loretizo said. “We sincerely believe the move to elite sports under the care of the POC is beneficial.”

The PSC aims to identify young prospects through a couple of multi-event competitions – the Palarong Pambansa and the Batang Pinoy Games – and support them for possible inclusion to the Philippine national team.

Briefs…

...The Maltese Olympic Committee held a meeting to organize preparations for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in New Delhi, India at the organization’s headquarters last Friday. The MOC also held a meeting to certify a number of junior sports clubs under its Clubmark program, which was devised to set higher standards of safety, fairness, coaching and management in all of the country’s junior clubs.

…James Bolabiu, who is the first referee from Fiji to be selected to officiate at a Rugby 7s World Cup, has been nominated for the 2008 Telecom Fiji and FASANOC (Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee) Sports Personality of the Year Award. The 26-year-old Bolabiu is one of five contenders for the award along with golfer Vijay Singh. The Sports Personality of the Year Award will be one of nine awards presented by FASANOC at a ceremony on March 7.

Written by Greg Oshust.