World Briefs -- Olympic Network Leads to Partial USOC Reorganization, Gary Hall, Jr. Retires

Development of Olympic Television Network Leads to USOC Reorganization

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has reorganized part of its management team, a move that will allow USOC Chief Operating Officer Norm Bellingham more time to focus on starting an Olympic television network some time in the next few months.

The new USOC chief marketing officer the organization hires to replace Rick Burton, who resigned earlier this month, will report to chief executive Jim Scherr instead of Bellingham, who is in charge of developing the network.

Last month, Bellingham said the Olympic network could be running in 100 days. The idea for the network originated two years ago and was given a working title – the U.S. Olympic Sports Network. The plan is to show live events and archival footage, along with a few shows that mix sports and lifestyle topics. Olympic swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. has announced his retirement from competitive swimming.(Getty Images)

Olympic Swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. Announces Retirement

Gary Hall, Jr., a 10-time Olympic swimming medalist, announced his retirement from competition.

The 34-year-old Hall made his decision after missing out on qualifying for a fourth U.S. Olympic team to go to the 2008 Beijing Games.

“I'm just not ready to commit myself to another four years," Hall said. "It was difficult to be away from my wife and kids this past year to commit myself to training. It's different when you have kids. To be honest, I was getting more enjoyment out of my kids than I was out of swimming.”

Hall is a three-time Olympian who won two golds, two silver and one bronze in individual competition as well as three golds, one silver and one bronze as part of relay teams.

Philippine NOC: Fencing Chief Mishandled Funds

The Philippine Olympic Committee’s Ethics Committee this week found former POC president and fencing chief Celso Dayrit guilty of mishandling $10,000 in funds released by the Olympic Solidarity Movement in relation to a training stint of national fencers in China in 2006.

The Ethics Committee, chaired by Frank Elizalde, IOC member for Philippines, charged that Dayrit had put the fund to the wrong use.

They also recommended that Dayrit be reprimanded pending possible sanctions. Chinese diver Guo Jingjing was selected 2008 female diver of the year by Swimming World magazine.(MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Divers Claim Top Diver Awards

Swimming World magazine has named Chinese divers Guo Jingjing and He Chong, who each won seven of China’s eight gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing as its 2008 female and male divers of the year. Guo became the most decorated diver in Olympic history with her fifth and sixth career gold medals in Beijing, passing China’s Fu Minxia and Greg Louganis of the U.S., who previously tied for the top career mark with five golds each.

He won the men’s three-meter event at the 2008 Games, scoring 572.90 points and notching several perfect 10s from the judging panel.

Pole Vault, Sailing Yet to Submit Olympic Performance Reports in Malaysia

Women’s pole vault and sailing, two of the 19 events contested by Malaysian athletes during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, have yet to submit their performance reports to the National Sports Council (NSC) of Malaysia.

“All the other reports that we received has been submitted to the Minister of Youth and Sports Datul Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (on Monday). Initially, we wanted to submit all the reports, but since reports of the two events have not come, we decided to submit those received,” Malaysian NSC Director-General Datuk Zolkples Embong said.

Zokkples said he was not sure if the NSC would ever receive both reports as pole vault coach Gennady Potapovich’s contract was terminated after the Olympics and sailor Kevin Lim retired following the Beijing Games.

He suggested that associations may be banned from future competitions if they fail to submit their reports two weeks after a competition.

Briefs...

... Richard Adam will be the new managing director of the 2018 Munich Olympics bid. He takes over from Wilfrid Spronk, who needs a timeout for health reasons. Later, Spronk will join the bid team again. Adam, a former cross-country skier and biathlete, was the managing director of "Bayern Tourismus,” now he wants to use his national and international contacts for supporting the bid.

... The Guardian reported this week that World Cup chair Richard Caborn says that Britain will continue to bid for major sporting events despite the financial crisis. "We started in 2001 with a bid for 2012. We started two years ago talking about the (soccer) World Cup, which is in 2018. If you actually are judging by circumstances at any given point then you'd never ever make a bid," he said on Tuesday.

... Howard Aris, a member of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Youth committee, was elected unopposed as president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association.

... The Independent reports that Usain Bolt will be training during the coming year at the University of Limerick. Sports Minister Martin Cullen said he thought Bolt’s decision was triggered by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team praising the training facilities at the university.

...Universal Sports, along with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, will present TV and online coverage of the 2008-09 Bobsleigh Skeleton World Cup and 2009 World Championship events. World Cup, bobsleigh and skeleton coverage gets under way with a competition in Winterberg, Germany Nov. 28-30. Universal Sports will provide coverage of bobsleigh and skeleton competitions across the U.S., Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

...The Astana professional cycling team, which now includes Lance Armstrong, will stage its U.S. training camp in California, after spending last year in New Mexico. Astana spokesman Phillippe Maertens said Tuesday the squad is planning two camps – in December and February. The European camp will be in Tenerife, Spain, while the U.S. camp is heading to Solvang, Calif.

... U.S. Gold Medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps ranks No. 23 in Entertainment Weekly's top 25 Entertainers of the Year, due in part to "making Speedos cool again"

Written by Greg Oshust.