Covid and international relations combine to cost Lake Placid its luge world cup races - Federation Focus

The inability of Russia and Georgia to secure visas for travel to the United States has cost Lake Placid the hosting rights to the Eberspacher World Cup luge event scheduled for December 4-5.

The races will instead be held at the 2014 Olympic sliding track in Sochi, Russia.

“The FIL was requiring a letter from USA Luge, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee or the State Department guaranteeing visa appointments for the Russian and Georgian teams by an imposed deadline of Aug. 10,” said Jim Leahy, USA Luge CEO.

“During COVID, most American embassies around the world closed and are now just beginning to reopen. The current protocol at the embassies with regard to appointments for visas is to prioritize those living in that country to apply for an appointment. With the U.S. Embassy in Russia closed due to political reasons, we tried through multiple channels over several weeks to get the Russians appointments at the American embassies in Latvia, Italy and Germany, but those efforts were fruitless as they are not residents of those countries.

“We also tried the Ukraine, but due to political reasons there, that U.S. embassy was not even an option for the Russians. The Georgians had the option in the Ukraine, but again since they are not residents, no appointment was possible by the FIL deadline. Our organization exhausted every possibility right up to the deadline.”

The FIL needed the confirmation because it had a deadline of Aug. 11 to pay a 50 percent deposit on the $2 million cost of charter flights that would have taken the teams to the opening World Cup in China and then on to Canada and the United States before eventually travelling to Europe for the majority of the World Cup races.

The 2021-2022 season will still begin in November in Yanqing, China at the venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. But the rest of the calendar will now be in Europe, as Sochi will also host the World Cup originally scheduled for Whistler, British Columbia the week before the Lake Placid event.

This is the second straight season that the World Cup tour will be skipping Lake Placid. The pandemic was the problem in late 2020, leading to a 2020-2021 racing schedule that was held mostly in Germany.

IWF to hold Electoral Congress in December

The International Weightlifting Federation has scheduled its delayed Electoral Congress for December 2-3 of this year.

The decision followed the adoption of a new IWF constitution on August 29 during the federation’s Constitutional Congress in Doha, Qatar.

Forrester Osei, a member of the IWF Athletes Commission, tells Around the Rings he feels “great and hopeful” now that the constitution has been passed. He says the athletes had asked for a change in leadership and to reform the old system. He feels the passage of the new constitution, which gives athletes more of a voice in decision making, “shows that everybody is willing to work for the betterment of the sport and also for the longevity of the sport for the next generation”.

The location of the Electoral Congress has not been determined. The IWF member federations have been told that logistics and details on the candidature procedures for the elections will be revealed in the near future.

The new constitution must still pass muster with the International Olympic Committee, which has threatened to pull the sport from the Paris 2024 program if it did not implement governance and anti-doping reforms called for by the IOC.

The IOC Executive Board is expected to review the situation when it meets on Sept. 8. At the last IOC Session in Tokyo, the EB was given the authority to suspend a federation from an Olympics without the approval of the full IOC membership.

Three more sports added to European Games 2023 program

Three more sports have been added this week to the program for the 2023 European Games.

Judo on Wednesday became the 21st sport confirmed for the third edition of the Games in Krakow-Malopolska. Beach soccer and kickboxing were announced on Monday.

It will be a third straight appearance at the European Games for judo, which was also a part of Baku 2015 and Minsk 2019.

The format for judo at the 2023 European Games was developed by the European Judo Union (EJU) and will follow the program for Paris 2024 by serving as the Mixed Team European Championships.

“This ranked competition in the Olympic format is the pride of EJU and one of our most spectacular events,” said EJU President Sergey Soloveychik.

“Participation at the Games is a unique opportunity for European athletes and referees to feel the atmosphere and format of an Olympic multisport event as well as being a wonderful possibility for our member federations to benefit from an invitation inside the EOC and host city support.”

Beach soccer, like judo, returns to the European Games after proving to be a very popular sport at both of the previous editions.

Kickboxing, which has recently been proposed for full Olympic status, will be making its European Games debut in Poland. It is already part of the Asian Games, African Games, World Games and Combat Games.

“Beach soccer has already been a success at our Games and its party-like atmosphere is again likely to make it a must-see sport for everyone in Poland. With kickboxing, they have a clear vision for the development of their sport and have been creating opportunities for their top athletes globally. We are excited to see them at our Games and look forward to having another modern and exciting sport being showcased at the continental level,” EOC President Spyros Capralos said.

Judo, beach soccer and kickboxing join 3×3 basketball, archery, badminton, beach handball, boxing, canoe, cycling, karate, modern pentathlon, muaythai, padel, shooting, ski jumping, sports climbing, table tennis, taekwondo, teqball and triathlon as sports already on the 2023 European Games program. More sports will be added.

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