Olympic Newsdesk - IOC Scolds Indian NOC; Team GB Performance Drop?

IOC "Astonished" by Indian NOC

The IOC is reportedly "astonished" at the refusal of the India Olympic Association to clarify issues over its president.

According to a report in Indian media, the IOC set a deadline of Sept. 25 for the IOA to explicitly state the status of Suresh Kalmadi, who left the IOA following corruption charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. However, he has seemingly refused to relinquish authority to acting president V.K. Malhotra.

Malhotra apparently informed the IOC earlier this month that a decision to send an observer to monitor presidential elections was unwelcome.

"The IOC and OCA are extremely astonished by the content of your letter and by the fact that you do not seem to understand that the internal situation of your NOC is not as smooth and normal as you want to depict it," the Press Tribune of India quoted a letter from Pere Miro, the IOC’s head of NOC relations.

"Should we remind you that, despite our numerous and repeated requests, you and your NOC were unable to take any clear decision vis-a-vis situation of Mr Kalmadi with much confusion surrounding the status, powers and decisions of your NOC Ethics Commission in this affair.

"We urge you once again to respond transparently and openly to all the questions which we have raised in our previous communications. If we do not receive any clear and satisfactory answers within a deadline of one week maximum, we will immediately produce a report for the IOC Executive Board for appropriate action."

The IOC EB could suspend India from the Olympics if it feels it does not receive an appropriate answer.

Team GB Performance Drop

A new study says Britain’s Olympians likely won’t repeat the glory of London 2012 at Rio 2016.

Researchers at the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom predict Team GB will win 45 medals in four years, a drop-off of 20 medals from London.

They came to the conclusion using a mathematical formula that combines the average number of medals won by Britain at the Olympics with the historical drop-off experienced by countries after hosting an Olympics.

"This of course assumes that history will repeat itself and that the drop-off in medals won, seen with other hosting nations, will be mirrored by Team GB in Rio," professor Alan Nevill said of his work.

Before London, the University predicted Team GB would win 63.5 medals.

British Sales Drop During Games

The United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics says retail sales decreased 0.2 percent from July to August of this year. The decline could be attributable in part to the Olympics.

Figures suggest shoppers instead became spectators of the Games, leading to a drop-off in online retail sales.

"August's U.K. retail sales figures add to the evidence that the Olympics did not provide the hoped-for boost to spending on the High Street," Samuel Tombs, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, was quoted by the BBC.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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