Olympic Briefs -- Park Elected NOC Boss; Toronto 2015 Reveals Venue Plans

Y.S. Park, the former president of the International Judo Federation who also held a seat on the IOC while leading the federation, was elected president of the Korea Olympic Committee and Korea Sports Commission on Wednesday.

Park defeated seven other candidates for the position, earning 26 of the 50 votes cast on the first ballot.

“I will try to demonstrate after one year that I am doing good based on what I pledged,'' Park said in Seoul.

Park will serve as president for four years.

Korea's new president immediately steps into a difficult political situation involving competing Olympic bids from Korea. PyeongChang is ready to try a third time for the Winter Olympics with a 2018 bid that would launch later this year. Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea, wants to make a bid for the 2020 Summer Games. With Korea unlikely to win both, the KOC must decide where to place its support, a decision likely to be influenced by the highest levels of the national government.

He said after winning the election “although bidding for international sports competitions is favorable, we should mull whether it is for developing Korean sports or for just showing it off.”

One of his key tasks will be to ensure the KSC remains financially viable. Park said he would “consider how to raise funds” for the council. Most of its nearly $100 million budget comes from the government.

Schiller: Olympics Doesn’t Have to Shut Down MLB

The president of the International Baseball Federation said Thursday in Tokyo that Major League doesn’t have to shut down its season to allow the best baseball players to play in the Olympics.

Harvey Schiller made the comments while on a campaign to drum up support for the sport’s re-inclusion into the Olympic program.

"Baseball is a big business and you don't have to shut it down to have the best players in the Olympics," Schiller said, "just as the Premier League doesn't stop playing football."

"We've proposed a short five-day tournament similar to what was done by ice hockey where the best players were in the Olympics."

Part of the reason baseball was booted from the sports program was that the world’s best players often chose to skip the tournament, as the Olympics takes place during the American professional baseball season.

Baseballdropped off the Olympic programat the end of 2008.The IOC will vote at the IOC Session in Denmark if baseball, or one of the other six sports vying for a spot on the program, will be allowed in.

Toronto 2015 Pan American Bid Team Reveals Venue Plan

The Toronto 2015 Pan American bid team unveiled a venue plan Wednesday that would use new and existing facilities in Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe region for training facilities, competitions, operations, and accommodations for athletes and officials.

The 2015 Pan American Games serve as an Olympic-qualifier for many Summer Olympic sports. If Toronto is selected the event would run for 17 days, July 10-26. They would be followed by the Parapan Games, the event for disabled athletes that typically follows the Pan Am Games.

Chair of Toronto’s 2015 Pan American bid, David Peterson, said, “The venue plan is a critical component of our bid to host the 2015 Pan and Parapan Am Games. We have come up with an exciting and achievable plan that is good for Toronto, good for the Greater Golden Horseshoe region and good for an excellent Games.”

The plan would spread events in three primary Games Zones in Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe region.

Toronto would host the Pan American Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as baseball, open water swimming, cycling, fencing, karate, weightlifting and several other events.

Toronto’s Varsity Stadium would also host the Parapan American Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The athletes village would be located in Toronto.

According to the plan, other cities such as Oshawa, Hamilton, and Burlington would also hold competition, training events, and facilities.

The Pan American Games are held every four years. The last Pan Am Games were held in July 2007 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2011 Games are planned for Guadalajara, Mexico.

South Africa Confirms $40 Million Grant for 2012 Olympic Challenge

South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee will receive a $40 million grant from the National Lottery fund, announced SASCOC President Gideon Sam.

“Money has been made available and we will continue to seek the investment of Corporate South Africa for what is the biggest sporting stage of them all, but to do this there has to be a blueprint of where the money is going and what the end goal is,” Sam said.

He stated, “Our talent identification has to be accurate and our focus has to be on sports that can produce medals.”

South Africa won one medal at the Beijing Olympics. “Supporters want winners,” Sam said. “Our mandate is now clear – to deliver high-performance sport in SA.”

Sam said the $40 million lottery grant was based on $10 million a year.

16th Asian Games Ticketing Plans Announced

The Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (GAGOG) announced its initial ticketing plans for the 16th Asian Games Thursday.

The ticket plan will categorize ticket prices by event popularity, capacity and venue cluster location. The final ticket price policy and Market Segment Allocation Breakdown, which will divide tickets into non-sellable tickets and sellable tickets, is subject to approval by the Olympic Council of Asia.

A lottery will be held for the first and second ticket sale phases. Customers will pay for their tickets before the lottery. Those who do not receive tickets will receive a refund upon the final declaration.

Sales results of the first two lottery phases will determine the third and fourth phases of ticket sales.

Fans will have a ticket purchase limit and may not buy more than three tickets for key ceremonial tickets, no more than five tickets for regular events, and no more than 10 tickets for general events per person per session.

The ticketing plan includes flexible payment methods and will not have restrictions on types of credit cards and bank cards that customers can use.

An official ticketing Web site and ticket box offices for competition and non-competition will be available during the Games.

Kamila Skolimowska, 1983-2009

Kamila Skolimowska, the 2000 gold medalist in the women’s hammer throw from Poland, died on Wednesday. She was 26.

Reports say she became sick and was rushed to a hospital where efforts to resuscitate her failed. It is not known what caused her death.

According to the Polish Athletics Federation, Skolimowska died while training in Portugal.

"This is a great tragedy to us," said Polish Athletics Federation director general Jan Slezak.

Despite winning gold at the age of 17 in Sydney, Skolimowska failed to medal in either Athens or Beijing.

Written by Ed Hula III and Isia Reaves.