Olympic Newsdesk -- Bolt Keen on Rio 2016, Targets "Different Goals"; Dow Recycles Stadium Wrap

(ATR) Six-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt says he will compete at Rio 2016 if he is fit, ending speculation that he might quit athletics before the Games.

"Yes definitely I will be there, as long as I'm fit and I'm ready," Bolt told Sky News ahead of the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne Thursday.

"It'll be a little bit harder but I'm looking forward to it."

After his three-gold medal haul in London, he also raised the possibility of trying the 400m or long jump. The Jamaican won the 100m and 200m and 4x100m sprint relay with his team-mates.

"It's just about making different goals. My coach wants me to do 400 metres, I want to try long jump," he said.

"I could always try to aim for the records again, so there's different things but after the season we'll decide what we want to do and work on that next season."

Dow Finally Gets Positive Headlines

The controversial Dow Chemical fabric wrap that surrounds the London Olympic stadium is to be recycled in Rio, Uganda and the U.K.

In the build-up to London 2012, the worldwide Olympic sponsor, which produced and clad the 80,000-seat Olympic venue with textile wrap panels, came under fire because of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster. Union Carbide owned the plant at the time; Dow acquired Union Carbide in 2001.

For the first time, Dow is now generating positive headlines around its Olympic sponsorship.

It has announcing a partnership with leading U.K. building and development charity Article 25 and recycling company Axion Recycling to repurpose the entire stadium wrap.

The 306 panels are slated for recycling and reuse projects in the U.K., and shelter solutions for at-risk children in Uganda and Rio.

In Brazil, Dow and Article 25 are exploring working with the Bola Pra Frente Institute to construct a shaded community area at the organization’s new facility in the Santa Cruz neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

The same sheltering solution will be used as part of Article 25’s work with Jubilee Action at a vocational training and counseling center for former child soldiers in Uganda.

"London won the honor of hosting the Olympics in 2012 by promising to inspire a generation of young people around the world to greater heights of personal and sporting achievement," said Robin Cross, director of projects and CEO of Article 25.

"By using the stadium wrap to build essential community facilities in Uganda and Brazil we hope to deliver on this international promise and bring part of the London Olympics to some of the most marginalized youngsters in the developingworld."

SportAccord Chief on Search for Successor

Despite pressure to see out his mandate, SportAccord president Hein Verbruggen has restated that he has no plans to continue in the role beyond next year’s convention in St. Petersburg, Russia.

"I will stop next year. On the congress agenda they have to put the point, presidential election," Verbruggen told Around the Rings, echoing comments made at this year’s convention in Quebec.

The Dutchman, who has served 10 years as acting and elected president of the umbrella organization for Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, insisted he did not want the responsibility of picking his successor.

"I will not be involved. I have told the congress it is up to you," Verbruggen said when asked if he had approached any federation leader or if anyone had approached him expressing a desire in taking over the position.

International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer is known to be interested; he wrote a letter to Verbruggen last year indicating his desire to take on the job.

World Karate Federation chief Antonio Espinos may also be in the running. Other candidates are expected to declare their interest in the coming months.

But a slew of candidates is not expected; the deterrent is the workload that goes with the presidency of SportAccord, as underlined by Verbruggen.

"You have to find someone, it is a voluntary job, who can spend 130 days per year on this," he said.

SportAccord 2013 takes place in St Petersburg from May 26-31.

Brazil 2014 Launches Volunteer Program

FIFA said around 37,000 people applied to be volunteers at the Brazil 2014 World Cup one day after it launched the program.

The 15-day application period may be extended by the Brazil 2014 LOC’s technical team.

Next year’s Confederation Cup in Brazil, a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, will require 7,000 volunteers. The 2014 showpiece needs some 15,000 people to help stage the month-long event.

Working at the stadiums and other official Confederations Cup and World Cup facilities, the selected volunteers will help out in areas such as communications, catering services, transport, protocol, accreditation, IT, press operations, hospitality, medical services and competition services.

"It is the volunteers who help create the sense of joy and celebration that surrounds the FIFA World Cup," said LOC operations director Ricardo Trade.

Nearly 90,000 applicants will take part in online training.

For the Confederations Cup, volunteer groups will be finalised in January and February and allocated to the host cities in March. The training program for volunteers takes place in April and May. The volunteer programme for the 2014 World Cup follows a similar schedule, starting one year later.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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