Olympic Newsdesk - Stockholm Anniversary; Equestrian Bidding; Veerpalu at CAS

Stockholm Anniversary

IOC president Jacques Rogge took to the water Friday for the 100th anniversary of the Stockholm Olympics.

Rogge, himself an Olympian in sailing, took part in a regatta in Stockholm’s Riddarfjärden bay. Watching the regatta from a motor boat was Sweden’s King Karl Gustav.

On Friday, 500 guests attended a gala dinner at City Hall where LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe spoke. Other IOC members in attendance include Sergey Bubka and Frank Fredericks.

The highlight of the weekend, according to the Swedish Olympic Committee, was a festival in the city’s Olympic Stadium, where every living Swedish Olympian participated in a ceremony and was honored on the field.

Cross country skier Martin Lundström is Sweden’s oldest Olympian at 94. He first competed at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics.

Honorary Degree for Rogge

On June 1, Rogge received an honorary degree from the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. Rogge was honored along with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and five other individuals.

In his presentation, Rogge listed the dangers facing sport today, including doping and illegal betting.

He also mentioned what he is most proud of in his 11-year tenure as IOC president.

"But perhaps what I am most proud of is that I have remained the same man," a statement on KU Leuven’s website said.

French Open Olympians

Olympians in tennis are the big winners from Monday’s final of the 2012 French Open.

Beijing 2008 singles champ Rafael Nadal of Spain bested Serbia’s reigning bronze medalist Novak Djokovic at in four rain-soaked sets on the red clay of Roland Garros.

On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova beat surprise finalist Sara Errani on Sunday to complete the career slam and take over as world No. 1.

It’s a good sign for the Russian with less than 50 days until London 2012, where Sharapova is expected to make her Olympic debut on the grass courts of Wimbledon – the venue for her first-ever major title at age 17.

Also over the weekend, Beijing 2008 doubles bronze medalists Bob and Mike Bryan fell to the top-ranked duo of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in their unsuccessful bid for a record 12th major title among men’s teams.

Anti-Doping Appeal

Retired cross-country skier Andrus Veerpalu is appealing a decision by the FIS doping panel to the Court of Arbitration for Sport this week.

The panel found that Veerpalu committed an anti-doping rules violation after testing positive for the use of recombinant human growth hormone (recGH) during an out-of-competition test last year in his native Estonia.

The two-time Olympic champion and two-time world champion retired on the opening day of the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships citing health reasons.

Veerpalu, 41, has been declared ineligible to participate in any FIS event for three years but reportedly wants to work as a coach or official, opportunities also prevented by his current ban.

According to Estonian news reports, CAS has 12-hour court sessions scheduled for Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday set aside for overtime.

Five Bids for World Equestrian Games

It’s a five-horse race for hosting rights to the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

Rabat, Morocco; Bromont, Canada; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria and Wellington, Florida are the candidate cities confirmed Monday by the International Equestrian Federation.

Australia, Sweden and Russia also signed expressions of interest back in November but dropped out of the bidding earlier this year.

"It is fantastic to have five really strong bids for hosting the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2018 and there could be no better endorsement of the FEI’s flagship event," FEI secretary general Ingmar de Vos said in a statement.

"The new bidding process that we put in place last year for the FEI World Equestrian Games has generated a huge amount of interest and we now look forward to welcoming the 2018 bidders to FEI Headquarters next month."

A presentation to the five candidates about hosting expectations and procedures is scheduled for July 11 in Lausanne. The cities, in turn, will formally present their bids to the FEI Bureau next spring with an official announcement to follow.

Stockholm hosted the inaugural World Equestrian Games in 1990, and the seventh edition is bound for Caen, France in 2014.

WSB Champions Crowned

Five World Series of Boxing athletes are now WSB world champions after battling it out Saturday.

WSB's individual championships were staged at ExCel in London, the location for Olympic boxing at London 2012.

Gairbek Germakhanov won the opening bantamweight bout, victory in the lightweight contest went to Juan Romero, 2011 world champ Sergiy Derevyanchenko maintained his title at middleweight, Ramazan Magomedau won light heavyweight, and the final heavyweight fight went to Filip Hrgovic.

IAAF Boss Rings NASDAQ Bell

International Association of Athletics Federations President Lamine Diack rang the NASDAQ closing bell on June 8 as part of the IAAF's centenary celebrations.

"It's an honor to be in New York to celebrate such a special year in the history of the IAAF," Diack said in a statement. "The United States has been at the forefront of our sport and our association’s activities throughout our 100 years of existence."

The closing bell is rung daily to signal the end of trading on the NASDAQ exchange.

Juantorena Joins IAAF Hall of Famers

Nicknamed "White Lightning" and "El Cabello", Alberto Juantorena is the latest inductee to the IAAF's inaugural Hall of Fame class.

Winning both the 400-meter and 800-meter races at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, Juantorena now serves as president of the Cuban Athletics Federation and as a member of the IAAF Council.

Seven more names will be announced ahead of the IAAF Centenary Gala on Nov. 24 in Barcelona, where Juantorenaand his 23 classmates will be officially inducted.

To read Juantorena’s complete profile, click here.

Generations For Peace

On the heels of its first program in Mumbai, global non-profit Generations For Peace held an advocacy event for teachers, parents and the media in Macedonia on Monday.

The one-day peace-building event was staged in Skopje and attended by 30 people.

The Mumbai program was facilitated by Ashok Rathod, a certified Generations For Peace Pioneer.

Media Watch

The New York Times reports on Ryan Lochte and "the making of an Olympic

sex symbol."

NPR reports on the food of the 2012 Olympics.

Written by Hannah Reid, Ed Hula III and Matthew Grayson.

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