Olympic Newsdesk -- Olympic Sport Convention; Rio 2016 Seminar; Bolt On Beijing, London

Sports Leaders for 1st World Olympic Sport Convention

Sports ministers from Britain, Canada and Brazil are the first to confirm their participation at the inaugural World Olympic Sport Convention in Acapulco next month.

Hugh Robertson, Gary Lunn and Orlando Silva are set to be among a group of sports ministers representing some of the 205 member nations of the IOC.

National Olympic committee leaders are also attending.

The Oct. 23 congress is organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees and follows ANOC's three-day general assembly in the Mexican city.

ANOC secretary general Gunilla Lindberg tells Around the Rings that the conference program for the World Olympic Sport Convention is being tailored to create better relationships between NOCs and governments.

"It is about good practice. In today's society we are not cooperating enough between our sports and governments," the IOC member from Sweden said.

"The Olympic Games are so much more than a Games."

Topics under discussion will include: government and NOC relations when countries are bidding or organising the Games; the autonomy of sport; Olympic education; women in sport; and the fight against doping.

Further details of the delegates attending and the conference program will be announced in the next few weeks.

Rio 2016 the Beginning, Not the End

Rio 2016 will mark a new beginning for the country, sports minister Orlando Silva told a who’s who of Olympic organizers and Brazilian authorities Friday.

" Rio 2016 is not the point of arrival but of departure for another model of sports development in the country," he said.

Silva was the first to speak at a seminar focused on the host city’s Summer Games preparations. Other speakers included Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman, Mayor Eduardo Paes, VANOC marketing VP Andrea Shaw and Marcia Lins, Brazil’s secretary of state for tourism, sport and recreation.

"We are planning with the development cycle for the future an effort to extend direct support to athletes," Silva told Brazilian newspaper Globo.

"The head of this will be the Olympic Training Center of the Brazilian Olympic Committee. But we will have regional centers for the development of talent across the country."

He also said Rio 2016’s legacy will be not only in sport but also in infrastructure.

Globo sponsored the invitation-only event at Copacabana’s Pestana Hotel.

Mountain Biking Worlds Heat Up

The first of many mountainbiking world champions are crowned in Canada’s Mont-Sainte-Anne.

More than 600 athletes from 37 countries race in three disciplines this week at the scenic mountain resort.

France’s Pauline Ferrand Prevot won the women’s juniors cross-country Wednesday. Sweden’s Alexandra Engen beat the field Thursday in women’s under 23 cross-country.

The bulk of the champions will be crowned this weekend in cross-country, downhill and 4-cross action.

Mont-Sainte-Anne last hosted the championships in 1998 and has seen International Cycling Union action every year since 1991.

Bolt Says Beijing Tough to Beat

Usain Bolt says he expects a good show from London 2012 but that the Summer Games will have a hard time topping Beijing.

"I think it’s going to be hard to compete againstChina because they did an extremely good job," he says in a new YouTube video, "but London’s one of the best cities in the world so it should be good. I’m looking forward to it."

The minute-long clip posted Thursday to London 2012’s official channel follows the world’s fastest man around the Olympic Stadium construction site.

The footage shows the Jamaican sprint star chatting with security guards, hugging a Wenlock doll and striking his signature "To the World" pose.

Bolt also cites the city’s large Jamaican population as another reason for his excitement.

He visited for the first time Wednesday the Olympic Park in east London, where he vowed to defend his Olympic titles at the 2012 Games and break his world records in the process.

Bolt was in the U.K. this week to promote his autobiography 'Usain Bolt: 9.58', a title he hopes will be obsolete in two years’ time.

Olympic Speed Skater Becomes a Father

Norwegian skating legend turned humanitarian Johann Olav Koss has a baby boy.

"Beautiful, little miracle was born yesterday, Aksel Chung-Yul Koss, three weeks early, 6 lbs 11 oz (3 kg)," his Facebook status update read Thursday. "Mother and son is doing great."

Koss and wife Jennifer Lee wed in New York last year.

The four-time gold medalist and former IOC member now heads Right to Play, which uses sport as a development tool for disadvantaged youth, and is an assistant coach of Norway’s speed skating team.

Written by Matthew Grayson and Mark Bisson.