Olympic Newsdesk - Asian Games on Track; New Aquatics Venue Roof

OCA Satisfied with 2010 Asian Games

The Olympic Council of Asia praises organizers of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games following its latest check-up of preparations for the 16th Asiad.

“We are very happy with your great effort and great job for the wonderful preparation for the next Asian Games in Guangzhou, and we are convinced of the great success of the Games,” said Tsunekazu Takeda, chair of the OCA Coordination Committee.

The OCA delegation led by the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee heard progress reports from GAGOC on all aspects of preparations.

The upbeat assessment from the OCA delegation came ahead of the one-year countdown ceremony to the Games Nov.12.

Takeda noted that the “Road of Asia” promotional tour through 37 countries had helped raise awareness of the event.

Games chiefs are planning to stage 27 test events in the countdown to the Asiad in the 53 competition venues, which include 12 new venues.

The events will take place at the Asian and international levels, giving athletes from Asia’s 45 national Olympic committees the opportunity to compete in Games venues in the build-up to the Nov. 12 to 27 Games next year.

Under ongoing efforts to promote women in sport, the OCA has asked organizers to add women’s boxing to the program. Women’s boxing was reportedly hugely popular at the recently concluded Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.

There will be 473 events in 42 sports at the Games but this figure will rise if GAGOC rubberstamps the addition of women’s boxing.

The Asian Games will have four athletes’ villages, the Chefs de Mission were told. The main athletes’ village in the city’s Asian Games Town is within a 45-minute drive to most competition venues. There are sub-villages for equestrian, golf and sailing.

Asian Games Town covers 2.73sq km and contains the athletes’ village, media village, technical officials’ village, main media centre, international broadcasting centre and Asian Games park.

Ticket prices for the 2010 Asian Games will cost as little as about $1.50, with a total of three million tickets available. The ticket sales launch takes place on Thursday, with the first phase of tickets for the public going on sale from January to March 2010.

In attempts to fill stadia and make the Games affordable, almost half the tickets are being priced under $12.

2012 Aquatics Center Gets New Roof

The wave-shaped roof of the London 2012 aquatics center, one of the most complex engineering challenges of the Olympics, has been successfully lowered into place.

The lifting of the 160m-long, 3000-ton sweeping roof of the Zaha Hadid-designed venue began in March.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said: “The aquatics center is going to be a spectacular venue for the Games in 2012 and its unique roof will be a wonderful addition to the east London skyline.

“At Games-time, 17,500 excited spectators will be able to ‘raise the roof’ cheering on the swimmers, including our British medal hopefuls, and in legacy it will become a much-needed elite and community facility. We are making great progress – and are fully on track with this iconic gateway to the Olympic Park.”

The nearly $500 million project is on track to finish in summer 2011.

The 17,500-seat swimming venue’s iconic architecture will be the ‘Gateway to the Games’ in 2012. In legacy, the venue will be downsized to 2,500 seats and include provision of two 50m swimming pools and a diving pool for elite sport and public use – facilities London does not have at present.

IOC Warns Rwandan Government

The IOC tells the Rwandan government to stay out of the Rwanda National Olympic Committee.

Last week the government dissolved the executive board of the RNOC and installed an “interim committee”, headed by the cycling federation president Aimable Bayingana. But Pere Miro, the NOC relations director for the IOC, wrote a letter to the sports ministry saying the RNOC must remain independent, as per the Olympic Charter.

Miro added that the IOC and Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa would only recognize the deposed RNOC, lead by Ignace Beraho.

According to the letter, the RNOC elections should also be conducted by the old RNOC, not the one installed by the government.

If the government fails to accept the IOC’s demands, the IOC could go as far as preventing Rwanda from competing at the Olympics.

Sports minister Joseph Habineza said he had no intentions of heeding the IOC’s request.

"Everything will continue as planned" he was quoted by local media.

"Every organization in this country must abide by the rules. Everything was done in accordance to the law."

Bari Booted

The southern Italian city of Bari is the first casualty in the 2020 Olympic bid.

Bari’s mayor, Michele Emiliano, submitted a letter to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) formalizing the bid, but within hours, CONI destroyed Bari’s Olympic dreams.

"The request cannot be considered admissible by CONI," the Olympic Committee said in a statement.

Italian news agency ANSA reported that CONI felt the 300,000 resident city lacked the resources to stage the Games. No city that small has hosted the Olympics in the modern era.

CONI president Gianni Petrucci previously expressed a desire for an Italian city to bid for the Olympics, The metropolises of Rome or Venice, however, would likely be the candidate cities.

According to Reuters, officials in Bari are “pondering” a second attempt at bidding.

Written by Ed Hula III.