Olympic Newsdesk - 62-Year-Old Medal Awarded; FIFA Congress

Rogge Awards 62-Year-Old Medals

A Belgian cyclist has finally his gold medal from the 1948 Olympics.

Eugene van Roosbroeck, 82, won the team title at the London Olympics. However, he said due to post race "chaos" he had no idea he won.

IOC president Jacques Rogge gave him the medal in a special ceremony recently, according to London’s The Times newspaper.

"Better late than never," van Roosbroeck was quoted by the paper.

Van Roosbroeck finished the race ninth while countrymen Lode Wouters finished third, and Leon Delathouwer finished fourth. That gave the Belgians the team title, but officials took hours to complete their calculations, leading the Belgians to think there was no medal for their work.

"It was complete chaos after the race — there was no ceremony or stage to collect the medals. After the event we jumped on the double-decker bus back to the barracks that served as the Olympic Village. A day later I was back in Belgium. It was only afterwards that we heard we were the best team. None of us thought that there was a medal awarded for the team event."

Van Roosbroeck contacted the Belgian NOC (COIB) about his medals after he learned that Rogge gave a copy of two Olympic medals to a skipper who had lost the original medals in a house fire, Philippe VandeWeyer of Le Soir tells Around the Rings.

Wouters, 81, was too ill to attend the ceremony. He will be presented with a medal at a later date. Wouters will receive his gold medal from the Belgian NOC president Pierre-Olivier Beckers. Delathouwer died two years ago. He was 79.

FIFA Congress Kicks Off

The 60th FIFA Congress starts Wednesday.

The two-day meeting gathers all 208 member federations to discuss the business of football. However, there may not be much to discuss.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday "from 208 members there was not one single demand, proposal or request to change anything in FIFA."

One topic up for vote is the suspension of the Brunei Darussalam Football Federation. FIFA’s executive committee declined to expel the federation, instead it recommendedthe Congress suspend it.

Sports Stars to Attend Youth Olympics

Olympic gold medalist SergeyBubka is among the athletes set to participate as a Singapore 2010 Athlete Role Model (ARMs) for the Youth Olympics in August.

The international federations and IOC Athletes’ Commission have chosen athletes from various Olympic sports to mentor the 3,600 Youth Olympians.

The ARMs will join the young athletes during the Culture and Education Program, attend the competitions and visit the Youth Olympic Village.

"They will learn a great deal about what it takes to be a top athlete and live by the Olympic values," Bubka said in a press release.

Diack, Rana Celebrate Birthday

IOC members Lamine Diack, and Mario Vasquez Rana celebrated their birthdays on Thursday. Diack, president of the international athletics federation and IOC member from Senegal turned 77. Rana, one of Mexico’s IOC members turned 78.

Other IOC members born in June are: Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar, born on June 3; Croatian IOC member Antun Vrdoljak, born June 4; Alpha Ibrahim Diallo from Guinea, born June 12, Czech IOC member Jan Zeleny, born June 16; and Patrick Hickey of Ireland, June 17.

Briefs…

…A report by an independent research tells of the legacies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games. The report, released at the 2010 Vancouver Debrief in Sochi, details investments in infrastructure and venues and indefinable benefits of memories and stories of the Games as legacies of the Games.

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With reporting from Ed Hula III and Isia Reaves.

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