Rogge Bound for Zambia; Baku Downplays Ethnic Tensions; Rome 2020 Logo

UN Secretary General to Visit IOC Project

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and his top sport chief Wilfred Lemke will visit the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Lusaka, Zambia with Jacques Rogge.

The UN called the event a "landmark visit" and said the aim of the visit is increased cooperation with the IOC.

"I know that the Olympic Movement has many excellent development projects in Africa," Secretary Ban said in a statement.

"With a view to further strengthening our cooperation in the implementation of sports for development projects, I should like to invite you to join me and my Special Adviser in one of my future trips to Africa to show us a concrete project on the ground."

The visit is scheduled for Feb. 25. The delegation will start by visiting a UN-supported initiative focusing on the rehabilitation of street children and out-of-school children and young people through sport.

Baku Downplays Ethnic Tension Impact on Bid

Ongoing ethnic tensions will not impact the Baku 2020 Olympic bid, the Azeri National Olympic Committee vice president says.

In western Azerbaijan near the Armenian border sits the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Populated primarily by Armenians despite being in Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh exercises some autonomy. In 1994, a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia broke out when the region tried to become part of Armenia.

However, Chingiz Huseynzade, AZNOC VP said there are examples of the Games going to other cities with recent histories of violence.

"Based on this logic, the IOC should not have given permission for the Olympic Games in London, given the conflict in Northern Ireland, or in Seoul, which has uneasy relations with North Korea, and many such examples," he was quoted as saying.

"The main criterion in selecting the candidate country is the decree it is prepared to undertake such large-scale sporting events."

International peace negotiations regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh region fell apart last summer.

Rome 2020 Logo

Rome 2020 could have been "a time for history."

While Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti axed the city’s 2020 bid, it had prepared a logo and slogan for the bid, both of which were supplied to Around the Rings.

The logo features a spiraling representation of the Coliseum and the slogan would have been "a time for history."

Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo are the remaining 2020 applicant cities.

Bin Hammam Gets CAS Date

Disgraced former Asian football boss Mohamed Bin Hammam will bid to overturn FIFA's lifetime ban from football at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on April 18 and 19.

CAS has confirmed the dates on its website.

The former FIFA presidential candidate was banned last July following an ethics commission investigation which concluded he had offered cash bungs to Caribbean Football Union members in a bid to win their votes for his campaign to oust Sepp Blatter.

The 62-year-old appeal was lodged at CAS in November nearly two months after FIFA rejected Bin Hammam's appeal against his ban. The ban was handed down by FIFA's ethics committee on July 23 after it found him guilty of seven counts of misconduct, including offering $40,000 bribes to Caribbean football officials in May.

For additional coverage, visit ATRsister site World Football INSIDER.

British Military Steps up Security at Olympics

Up to 2,100 reserve soldiers will provide extra security at the London Olympics.

The British Ministry of Defence said Monday that the soldiers will be called out of their permanent service to join an overall military force of 13,500 to provide a "range of specialist capabilities and expertise."

"Both the reservist and the overall defense contribution is on a similarscale to that deployed by other nations at recent Olympic Games and will contribute to ensuring a safe, secure and enjoyable 2012 Olympics," British defense secretary Phillip Hammond said in a written parliamentary statement.

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, part of the security forces’ duties will be to protect venues from a terrorist attack.

Rugby Chair to Speak at Security Conference

Bernard Lapasset, chairman of the International Rugby Board, will address the International Sport Security Conference.

Lapasset will join the chairman of the premier league Dave Richardson the panel, "New Frontiers: Rewards and Challenges to Growing a Sporting Brand inNew Markets."

Held in Doha from March 14-15, the conference will tackle issues with sport including safety and commercial and development practices.

Media Watch

The Salt Lake Tribune obtained the FBI’s documents relating to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. According to the documents, the security agency received a tip about a potential terrorist attack a little less than a month before the Games.

Libya’s new National Olympic Committee president tells Reuters he is targeting the country’s first Olympic medal in 2016.

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the work of Rio de Janeiro’s police ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Dow Chemical had hoped for positive PR from its Olympic sponsorship, but that may prove elusive with the 2012 Olympics.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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