Caribbean NOCs Defend Netherlands Antilles; Canadian Re-Branding

CACSO Takes Up Cause of Netherlands Antilles

The Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization is pleading with IOC president Jacques Rogge to intervene before the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee loses its NOC status.

The IOC proposed during a January meeting of its Executive Board to withdraw recognition from the NAOC because of a new constitutional structure in the five islands. As a consequence of the formal dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October, the territory does not legally exist anymore.

"It gives us great concern that an NOC that earned recognition by the IOC in 1950 and is linked to our organization since 1946 is no longer recognized because of a change in political status," wrote CACSO president Hector Cardona in a letter to Rogge dated March 15 but made available Tuesday to Around the Rings.

"We want to inform Mr. President that CACSO’s assembly, meeting in plenary session, unanimously supported the continuation of the NOC of the Netherlands Antilles as a permanent member of the Olympic family."

Cardona cites a recent letter from Pere Miro, the IOC’s head of National Olympic Committees, in which he indicates that the fate of the NOC will be up for vote at the IOC Session convening next month in Durban.

It’s unclear whether the letter was addressed to CACSO or the NOC itself. Efforts made by ATR to contact the IOC for comment have been unsuccessful.

At January’s EB meeting, Rogge said he did not want to harm any athletes, and measures would be proposed to continue to finance them. If they qualify for the London Olympics, they could compete under the Olympic Flag.

"We leave in your hands, Mr. President, this grave situation of the NOC of the Netherlands Antilles," Cardona ended his letter, and "we know you with all wisdom and the IOC Executive Committee will manage to find a table of solutions to avoid hurting the many efforts and dreams of the youth of Antilles."

The NAOC has a long history. It was formed in 1931 and officially recognized in 1950, and its first Olympics came at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games.

The Netherlands Antilles has won one Olympic medal. Jan Boersma won a silver medal in windsurfing in Seoul.

While the future of the committee is uncertain, one thing is clear: there will not be any new national Olympic committees.

Officials are considering a few alternatives. One is to disband the NAOC and national federations and compete under the Dutch NOC. Another is to disband and compete under the NOC of Aruba.

Neither are particularly popular.

Should the Antilles join the Dutch team, its athletes would be little fish in a big pond as the Netherlands has a population of 16 million, roughly 80 times greater than that of the Antilles. They would also then be unable to compete in regional games and would lose funding through Olympic Solidarity and other mechanisms.

Joining the Aruban Olympic team poses the reverse problem. Aruba has roughly half the population of the Antilles.

New Canadian Identity

The Canadian Olympic Committee has a new look that its leaders are hoping lasts forever.

On Monday, the COC unveiled new logos for the committee, the Olympic team and the 2015 Pan American Games team–the home squad when the Games come to Toronto.

"We are very pleased with the new brandlogo. It is simple, clean and drives attention to the Team, where it belongs," said Christopher Overholt, chief operating and marketing officer for the COC.

COC marketing exec Dennis Kim told Toronto’s The Globe and Mail: "We really wanted something that would transcend time. If you look at the New York Yankees or Detroit Red Wings, they haven’t changed their jerseys for years because they got it right the first time."

At the center of all logos is Canada’s national icon, the maple leaf, which Overholt said "connects all Canadians".

The COC’s new logo tweaked its previous logo, in use since 1995, to help with its clarity and modernity, the COC said in a statement. The COC’s new logo closely resembles the new logo for the United States Olympic Committee.

Olympians will now have a logo on all competition wear that features a maple leaf above the Olympic Rings and a red oval surrounding them. The COC calls the look "classic yet contemporary".

Following the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in 2014, the Pan American Games logo will begin its use. The new mark will now be specific to each edition of the respective Games. The logo is almost an exact opposite of the Olympic logo. The leaf and rings are white on a red background with a black border and the year of the Games and "Pan American Team" in French and English surrounding the imagery.

Written by Edward Hula III and Matthew Grayson.