Inaugural European Games Open; Almaty, Beijing Square Off -- ATRadio

(ATR)The first-ever European Games are underway in Baku, 26 sports are vying for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the bid race for the 2022 Winter Games reaches a climax in less than two months.

In this Sunday edition of ATRadio,Around the Ringsrecaps reaction to the opening of Baku 2015, World Bowling's campaign for Tokyo 2020, and thetechnical briefing for IOC members on the 2022 candidate cities.

The 2015 European Games opened in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 12.

Over the course of 16 days, Baku 2015 organizers say some 7,000 athletes from 50 NOCs will compete in 20 sports.

ATR spoke with Pierce O’Callaghan, Baku 2015 director of sport, last week as the team entered the final countdown to the inaugural Games.

In addressing Baku 2015's biggest challenge over the past 30 months, O'Callaghan said time was not on their side.

"Normally, an Olympics or other multi-sport events would have seven years to prepare for the Games."

Bowling is officially aiming for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics, having submitted its application to Tokyo on June 8.

Tokyo 2020 opened the doors to sports hoping to join the Olympic program on a single-Games basis in March.

Baseball/softball is widely considered to have the inside track on securing a spot in Tokyo due to its popularity in Japan.Wushu, squash, wakeboarding, surfing and others have shown interest as well.

ATR spoke with World Bowling president Kevin Dornberger last week.

"Japan is our second-largest member federation, behind the United States, in terms of participation,Dornberger said."We think it’s our time."

In other news, delegations from Almaty and Beijing delivered key presentations to the IOC this week.

The so-called technical briefing for IOC members on the 2022 candidate cities gave them a chance to explain how they plan to stage the Games as well as for IOC members to ask questions to the candidates.

ATR editor Ed Hula weighed in on the challenges ahead for each bid.

"Almaty raised this idea that there is a $75 billion sovereign wealth fund in Kazakhstan, funded by the oil/petroleum revenues of the country.

"The doubt about Kazakhstan's finances revolves around the sinking price of oil in the past year."

Hula says Beijing 2022 addressed issues including a lack of snow and notorious air pollution.

"They said that there will be a concerted effort to clean up the air in Beijing.

"These are some of the same things we heard when Beijing was bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and pollution was just as much of a problem back then."

The race for the 2022 Winter Olympics is headed toward a climax in less than two months when the IOC chooses a host city for the Games.

Xu Jicheng, Beijing 2022 director of communications, tells ATR that bid leaders have a compact plan in mind for Beijing's mountain venues.

"Each cluster is very convenient for the athletes."

Almaty 2022 and Beijing 2022 set up exhibitions in Lausanne for members of the IOC and media on June 10.

IOC members toured two rooms at the Lausanne palace hotel, the bids showcasing their merits with interactive demos, display videos and models.

Beijing 2022 offered IOC members a virtual ride on the proposed new high speed railway linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou and detailed models depicted the bid's three venue clusters.

When asked about the lack of snow in Beijing, Jicheng says that is simply not the case anymore in the city.

"Snow will not remain a big problem for Beijing's Winter Games."

Tune into an upcoming edition of ATRadio this week, featuring an interview with a delegate from Almaty 2022.

Written and produced byNicole Bennett

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