On the Scene in Macau - ANOC Addresses Ceremonies, Ticketing

(ATR) The Association of National Olympic Committees Executive Council gives London 2012 a gold medal but raises questions about athlete participation in the opening ceremony and ticket process.

Concerns were raised as part of the NOCs questionnaire on the Olympics and voiced during Friday's meeting of the ANOC Executive Council in Macau.

ANOC secretary general Gunilla Lindberg summarized the remarks from athletes, saying: "They didn’t see anything, and it was very late."

Perhaps the most important element of the ceremony – other than the lighting of the cauldron – is the athletes' parade, a nearly two-hour procession that plants athletes in the middle of the playing field and unable to see the pageantry.

Other ANOC leaders also voiced complaints that the ceremony is a television event that negatively impacts their Olympians.

"I would strongly recommend that ANOC sit with the IOC and the broadcasters and have a truly hard-nosed working group with the broadcasters to have an answer," said Kevan Gosper of Australia.

"How often do we have to make this point?" asked Barry Maister from New Zealand. "The Winter Games seemed to have solved this. The athletes come in earlier and they can enjoy the ceremonies and leave. The Winter Games seem to have provided a model."

ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah acknowledged the challenges the ceremonies present – and the challenges in answering their concerns.

"The broadcasters provide our revenue," he quipped.

How NOCs received tickets from organizers also irked ANOC officials.

The members complained of long lines to receive tickets at the official NOC hotel and within the Olympic Village.

Lindberg said the comments raised at Friday’s meeting would be mentioned again at the London debrief beginning next week in Rio de Janeiro.

With regards to ceremony issues, the Sheikh proposed that the next IOC EB/ANOC EC meeting would focus on Games-related issues. Maister said he thinks that's a good idea.

"Mountainous Debt of Gratitude"

Making his final address to the ANOC Executive Council, LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said he owes the NOCs "a mountainous debt of gratitude for making London what it was.

"I think the Games set a foundation both in domestic and international sport that we can build on for years to come," he said.

His speech was chiefly reserved for thanking the NOCs for their work around the Games.

Speaking to Around the Rings, he explained his gratitude: "NOCs are the bedrock and deliverers of so much of what we consider a successful Games."

In his address, he also outlined some "top-line" social media and broadcast figures for the Games.

LOCOG metrics found 3 million Tweets mentioned "Olympic Games" or "London 2012" during competition with 1.3 million Tweets during the Paralympics.

LOCOG’s mobile app for the Olympics was downloaded more than 15 million times, and the Paralympic app 5.8 million times.

Most staggeringly, the LOCOG website received 431 million hits.

The Games, Coe claimed, "broke all television broadcast records," including drawing 52.1 million Brits, or 91 percent of the U.K. population, for at least 15 minutes of the Games and more than 21 million for at least 15 minutes of interactive TV.

"Anybody tells you that Olympic Games are struggling to find a space, they certainly weren’t struggling in London," he said.

Coe, however, will not be leaving ANOC anytime soon. He was elected as chairman of the British Olympic Association on Wednesday but said he has no grand ANOC ambitions just yet.

"I’ve only been in ANOC for 48 hours," he said.

General Assembly Wrap, 2013 Location

In her secretary general's report, Lindberg says the books on the 2012 ANOC General Assembly in Moscow were closed.

The final bill came to $2.476 million, which she noted is "$1 million better than we expected."

Next year’s General Assembly will take place in Lausanne from June 14 to 16, she announced.

"It is the last time for [IOC President Jacques Rogge] to greet the NOCs, and the NOCs have never been in Lausanne," she said.

The city of Lausanne, she said, offered to help stage the General Assembly as well.

Nine-Figure Increase for NOC Funding

NOCs could have access to some $400 million in additional funding for 2013-2016 compared to the 2009-12 quadrennial.

The Olympic Solidarity Commission met on Friday to approve the budget, which included a 40 percent increase for the period to a minimum $435 million. The figure could reach as high as $620 million depending on revenue flows for the year.

Olympic Council of Ireland president and ANOC vice president Patrick Hickey described the increase as "a great bonus for NOCs".

The budget is subject to IOC Executive Board approval at its meeting in December, but the measure is expected to pass.

Olympic Solidarity also approved the creation of a reserve fund to ensure money will be available even in the worst economic circumstances.

A proposal from Sheikh Ahmad created a safety mechanism for NOCs that feel they are subject to unfair practices by their continental organizations. They are now able to launch an appeal directly to the Commission. Punitive measures if the continental organization is found to have committed malfeasance include withholding funds from the organization in the future or sequestration of funds already disbursed.

Reported in Macau by Ed Hula III

20 Years at #1: