Clinton Foundation Among Working Groups for Olympic Agenda 2020

(ATR) Working groups are named by the IOC president to draft sweeping changes for the Olympics.

IOC president Thomas Bach has filled 150 slots on 14 working groups under the Olympic Agenda 2020 program. Bach wants the working groups to move forward with proposals for the IOC to consider at the end of the year at an extraordinary session in Monaco.

The 14 working groups are supposed to meet around Olympic Day, June 23, in Lausanne. In July, a still-unscheduled Olympic Summit will be held involving all IOC stakeholders to review the proposals coming from the working groups.

Made up mostly by IOC members, the working groups are also stocked with experts and includes on one of the panels The Clinton Foundation, created by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The Clinton Foundation serves on working group 8, "Olympism in action including Youth Strategy." This group is chaired by Argentina IOC member Gerardo Werthein and includes colleagues Prince Feisal Al Hussein and Princess Haya Al Hussein, the Jordanian natives and only brother and sister serving on the IOC. The panel also includes USOC chair and IOC member Larry Probst, and young IOC members such as Danka Bartekova of Slovakia.A notable outside expert on this panel is Google chairman Eric Schmidt.

Back to the top of the list, Working Group 1, "Bidding Procedures," will be chaired by Australia’s John Coates. Four individuals with recent bid experience are among the members. Hasan Arat of Istanbul 2020, Sebastian Coe from London 2012, Michael Vesper from Germany's Munich 2018 bid, and Tessa Jowell, ex-minister for the London Olympics.

Working Group 2 will deal with "Sustainability and Legacy". Prince Albert of Monaco chairs the group that includes Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut, Ukraine IOC member and NOC president Sergey Bubka, and IOC Athletes Commission member Tony Estanguet. George Hamilton, vice president for the Olympics of worldwide sponsor Dow, is one of the expert members.

"Differentiation of the Olympic Games" is the title for Working Group 3 to be chaired by Sam Ramsamy of South Africa. With a total of 17 members, it’s the largest working group, meant to address what distinguishes the Olympics from other large international sport events. Along with eight IOC members, SportAccord president Marius Vizer and DOSB executive Bernhard Schwank are on the panel.

Working Group 4 deals with "Procedure for the composition of the Olympic Programme," one of the thorniest topics that needs to be resolved for the IOC. Italy’s Franco Carraro, chair of the IOC program commission, will lead this panel, which includes just eight members.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah of Kuwait, the president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, and Claudia Bokel of Germany, chair of the IOC Athletes Commission, are two outsiders on this group. Half the membership has a connection to the international federations, including Raffaele Chiulli, president of ARISF, the association which represents federations hoping to join the Olympics one day.

Working Group 5 "Olympic Games Management" is chaired by Italy’s Mario Pescante and includes non-IOC members who have hands-on experience running Olympic Games. That includes Andrew Ryan of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, Fraser Bullock of Salt Lake City 2002, and Paul Deighton of London 2012. Patrick Adiba, vice president with worldwide sponsor Atos Origin, will bring the company’s IT experience to the panel.

"Protecting Clean Athletes" is the mission of Working Group 6, led by Claudia Bokel. The panel includes IOC Medical Commission chair Ugur Erdener, also president of World Archery. Other federation chiefs on this panel include Anders Besseberg of biathlon, Bernard Lapasset from rugby, and Francesco Ricci Bitti from tennis. Spanish Olympic Committee president Alejandro Blanco is a member.

The formation of an Olympic TV channel seems like a foregone conclusion with Working Group 7, titled "Olympic TV Channel," chaired by none other than the IOC president. Of the 14 working groups, it’s the one with the most specific possible outcome. Sheikh Ahmad is one of the nine members, along with Canada’s Richard Pound and Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain. Experts include the eminent Manolo Romero, founder of Olympic Broadcast Services, and Gary Zenkel, NBC Olympics president.

Ser Miang Ng of Singapore, who helped lead the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010, will lead Working Group 9, dedicated to the YOG. IOC members include Ottavio Cinquanta, Alex Gilady, Bruno Grandi, Patrick Hickey, Gunilla Lindberg, and Yang Yang. Claude Ruibal, head of sports for YouTube, is one of the outside experts.

Working Group 10 will address "Culture Policy". Greek IOC member Lambis Nikolaou is the chair, serving with four other IOC members: Ung Chang (North Korea), Guy Drut (France), C.K. Wu (Chinese Taipei), and Alexander Zhukov (Russia). Tony Hall, the director general of the BBC, is one of the outside experts.

"Good governance and autonomy," Working Group 11, will be led by Craig Reedie of Great Britain, joined by six other IOC members, including Pierre Olivier Beckers of Belgium. Sharon E. Abrams, general counsel for worldwide Olympic sponsor P&G, is one of the outside experts.

Working Group 12 is dedicated to ethics. IOC Ethics Commission chair Youssoupha Ndiaye will also lead this group that includes for IOC members and three from outside the IOC . World Curling Federation president Kate Caithness is a member.

IOC marketing commission chair Tsunekazu Takeda chairs Working Group 13, "Strategic review of sponsorship, licensing and merchandising." Former marketing commission leader Gerhard Heiberg is a member along with Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain Al Mussalam. The two outside experts on the panel include former Coca-Cola Olympics executive Scott McCune and Martin Sorrell of advertising and PR giant WPG.

Working Group 14 will handle the question of a retirement age for IOC members and other issues involved with membership. The Grand Duke of Luxembourg will lead this panel, the first ever leadership post in the IOC for him. Six other IOC members are on the panel. Sheikh Ahmad takes his third seat on a working group, joined by Anita DeFrantz of the U.S., Barbara Kendall of New Zealand, Lingwei Li from China, Julio Cesar Maglione from Uruguay, and Ramsamy of South Africa.

Written by Ed Hula

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