On the Scene - IOC Executive Board Opens

(ATR) Meetings of the IOC Executive Board and a group sorting out Sochi press accreditations make Chateau de Vidy a crowded place.

For the EB members, it's their first gathering of the Olympic year and their shortest in a while, spanning less than 28 hours from start to finish.

Updates from IOC commissions and administration fill the agenda for Tuesday with reports from the OCOGs and Coordination Commissions for London 2012, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 reserved for Wednesday morning.

Absent from the list of commissions briefing the EB this week is Ethics, so the BBC's corruption allegations against the International Boxing Association will likely wait for another meeting.

Reports on commissions for finance, legal, television and marketing, TV rights and new media, Olympic Solidarity, athletes, Sport for All, summer and winter international federations as well as the 127th IOC Session in 2015 will, however, be heard.

Changes of Nationality

Among the first orders of business for the EB was the approval of two changes of nationality for athletes, clearing the way for them to compete for new countries at the London Olympics.

Yamila Aldama, 39, had her request granted days after winning triple-jump gold at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul and will now represent Great Britain instead of Sudan.

Track cyclist Philip Hindes, 19, is also switching to Great Britain, in his case from Germany.

"The EB agreed to the request to reduce the three-year waiting period outlined in the Olympic Charter, as the requirements for such a reduction or cancellation had been met, i.e. agreement had been given by the international federation as well as both National Olympic Committees concerned," the IOC said in reference to Aldama and Hindes.

"Nothing to Share" on Revenue-Sharing

Negotiations for a new revenue-sharing agreement between the IOC and U.S. Olympic Committee are noticeably absent from the agenda in Lausanne.

A spokesman for the USOC tells Around the Rings there's not much to report from his side of the talks.

"Nothing to share on our end other than we have agreed with the IOC not to share any details on the discussions," he reiterated.

One of Two Marios

A weekafter winning reelection as Pan American Sports Organization president, Mario Vazquez Rana is absent from the EB.

Mario Pescante did, however, make the trip from Rome despite announcing his resignation as an IOC vice president three weeks ago.

The decision, taken after Italian PM Mario Monti nixed the city's 2020 bid a day before the deadline, does not affect Pescante's status as an IOC member, and he won't officially present his resignation untilthe IOC Session in London this July.

Sochi Press AccreditationAllocation Underway

Leading representatives of media and sport are also at IOC headquarters to help divvy up the world's press credentials for Sochi 2014.

Bob Condron, former director of media services for the U.S. Olympic Committee, and British Olympic Association communications head Miriam Wilkens are here on behalf on NOCs for this first stage of the accreditation process.

Italian press operations expert Lucia Montanarella and AIPS president Gianni Merlo are also part of this working group of the IOC Press Commission.

Anthony Edgar, head of media operations for the IOC, is running the show downstairs from Salle Coubertin, site of the ongoing EB.

The meetingis intended to review figures related to the participation and performance of each NOC's athletes in recent Winter Olympics, the number of press accreditations allocated as well as the size and strength of each country's national newspaper industry.

Russia, including host news agency RIA Novosti, will of course receive extra attention above and beyond its quota from past Games.

Reported in Lausanne by Matthew Grayson

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