(ATR)The events of the past week have given the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Executive Committee plenty to talk about when it meets on Wednesday.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Fancy Bear would be at the top of the agenda. It's the Russian hacker group that WADA claims illegally gained access to its anti-doping management system ADAMS via an IOC-created account for the Rio 2016 Games.
Fancy Bear has leaked batches of personal medical data, specifically revealing decorated Olympians who have been given a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). TUEs are exemptions granted to Olympians and Paralympians who have used medication on WADA’s list of banned substances to treat medical conditions or emergencies.
Olympic champions including Simone Biles of the United States, Mo Farah of Great Britain and Kim Brennan of Australia as well as other athletes have been named.
WADA maintains that the attacks are some form of revenge against the two separate investigations led by Richard Pound and Richard McLaren which revealed state-directed doping in Russia. The revelations led to the IAAF’s ban on the country’s athletics team from the Rio Olympics, the International Paralympic Committee’s blanket ban on Russia and several international federations blocking Russian athletes from competing at the 2016 Games.
The WADA Executive Committee may also be talking about McLaren, who revealed on Friday that his full report on the Russian doping scandal would not be ready for a few more months.That is likely to delay the IOC’s next decisions on Russia and steps to revamp the global doping system.
EOC Executive Committee To Meet in Bratislava
The EOC Executive Committee meets on Friday in Bratislava, Slovakia with a couple of major decisions needing to be made.
One is how the organization will move ahead without its elected president Patrick Hickey, who is out as he prepares to go to trial after his arrest August 17 in Rio de Janeiro on charges of illegal sale of Olympic tickets.
The first meeting without Hickey, held on August 29, was led by EOC acting president Janez Kocijančič of Slovenia.
This leadership crisis comes as the EOC wrestles with what to do about the future of the European Games, the next version supposed to come in 2019. Hickey has been the driving force behind the event first held in 2015 by Baku, Azerbaijan. But once hoping to have a 2019 host picked in Baku, Hickey and the EOC have not found a successor. Russia, once favored to step in, was barred in June by the IOC as a consequence of the doping scandal that has rocked Russian sport.
Tokyo 2020 hosts flag raising ceremony
The Japanese Olympic and Paralympic flags will wave in Tokyo during the flag raising ceremony at the Metropolitan Government plaza.
The event will be hosted by the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan government.
The ceremony will be followed by a kickoff event featuring details of the celebratory flag exhibition that will visit 62 districts in Tokyo.
Athletes such as Olympic gold medalist Yoshinobu Miyake and Para-triathlete Keiichi Sato are expected to attend.
The event will be held on Sep.21 at 6:00pm UTC
Asian Beach Games Commence
The OCA will be hosting its fifth annual Asian Beach Gamesalong the coast of Vietnam in the city of Da Nang.
"It has a reputation as a peaceful and dynamic destination for tourists from Vietnam and overseas alike, and the people are ready to do their best to make the 5th Asian Beach Games a great success for Da Nang and for Vietnam," Deputy Chairman of Da Nang City People’s Committee Dang Viet Dung said in a statement.
A total of 45 nations will be participating in over 20 sports including ju-jitsu, bodybuilding and aquatics in 172 events at the four venue clusters along the city’s bay.
Organizers are expecting 3,000 athletes and officials from the Olympic Council of Asia's 45 National Olympic Committees to attend.
More than 1,500 volunteers have been recruited to ensure the games will run smoothly.
The Asian Beach Games will begin on Sep.24 and conclude on Oct.3.
Following the opening ceremony of the Games the 35th OCA General Assembly will convene at the Royal Lotus Hotel also in Da Nang.
The OCA is expected to choose the location of its new headquarters at the Assembly.
Written by Courtney Colquittand Gerard Farek
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