On the Scene - IOC Convenes Speedy EB Meeting

(ATR) A bright sky and brisk agenda greet IOC Executive Board members for their first meeting of the Olympic year.

Two problem NOCs are up for discussion this week in Lausanne, Around the Rings is told. India's controversy involves the continued presidency of ex-Commonwealth Games chief Suresh Kalmadi, and Panama is a question of who leads the NOC.

A noticeable absence from the 15-member EB will be Mario Vazquez Rana. Last week, he presided over the Pan American Sports Organization's General Assembly in his native Mexico City, where he was reelected to a 10th term as PASO president.

Business kicks off Tuesday morning at Chateau de Vidy and wraps up midday Wednesday with meatier items reserved for the sidelines of next month's ANOC Assembly in Moscow and then SportAccord five weeks later in Quebec City, where the EB will shortlist bidders for the 2020 Olympics.

In the meantime, there's 2012 through 2018 to get through.

LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe and Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman are in town to deliver progress reports on the next two Summer Games. Coordination Commission chair Gunilla Lindberg will do the honors for PyeongChang 2018 while Sochi 2014 CEO and president Dmitry Chernyshenko tells ATR he will brief the EB via teleconference.

Gilbert Felli is expected to cover the recent Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck andthe 2014 Summer YOG in Nanjing while last month's Fifth World Conference on Women and Sport in Los Angeles will also be addressed.

The most meaningful discussions in Lausanne may take place around long-running negotiations for a new revenue-sharing agreement between the IOC and U.S. Olympic Committee. Reaching any sort of resolution here is doubtful, though EB members could discuss the latest offer on the table from the USOC.

They could also hear from the Ethics Commission about the International Boxing Association, who a so-called Special Investigation Committee cleared of any wrongdoing in a report AIBA president C.K. Wu delivered to the IOC back in December. On the eve of the 2011 boxing world championships in Baku, the BBC reported that a secret deal had been made for Azeri boxers to win medals at the London Olympics, allegations labeled "completely without merit" by the AIBA-appointed task-force.

Last up in Lausanne is a closing press conference with IOC president Jacques Rogge slated for Wednesday afternoon, roughly 30 hours after the meeting opened.

Reported in Lausanne by Matthew Grayson

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