Sochi Hotel Prices Capped; Fencing President Reelected; Israeli IOC Member Feted

Russia Caps Olympics Hotel Prices

Hotels in Sochi will cost no more than $450 a night during the Games.

The Russian cabinet issued a statement to the government of the Krasnodar region on Monday capping the price of a five-star hotel, with standard rooms going for $209.

"Price-gouging" is a continual concern during the Olympics, and this bill was done to lessen the pinch on visitors' wallets during the Games.

"We have crafty people" in Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying. "Competition is a good thing, but we must watch prices."

Costs were based on double-room occupancy, with singles and triples varying accordingly.

Breakfasts must also be included in the room if that is the hotel’s usual policy, the statement added.

Fencing President Reelected

Alisher Usmanov will head the International Fencing Federation for another four years.

The billionaire from Russia was reelected over the weekend at the FIE Electoral Congress in Moscow.

"I consider this decision as recognition of the results achieved so far, and above all as an endorsement of my strategy to develop fencing on a global level," he said in his victory speech.

"We have a lot of work to do and the FIE is facing challenging tasks. I am certain that the 100th anniversary of fencing in 2013 will be a year of success, accomplishments, and the start of a new phase of the sport’s evolvement."

A former sabre fencer, Usmanov took over in 2008 from longtime FIE president Rene Roch. Known in business circles as "the hard man of Russia," the Uzbek-born oligarch founded steel firm Metalloinvest in 1999 and now ranks as the world’s 28th richest man by Forbes.

Also in Moscow, the Congress awarded Sofia, Bulgaria the 2014 Senior World Championships and Porec, Croatia the 2013 Junior World Championships.

MOC Secretary General Denies Wrongdoing

The secretary general of the Maltese Olympic Committee, Joe Cassar says he did nothing wrong in regards to a ticket-selling controversy ahead of the London Olympics.

A statement from his lawyers to The Times of Malta says "there was absolute no wrong-doing," by Cassar.

The statement explains that he was exercising his rights as MOC secretary general to select an Authoriaed Ticket Retailer (ATR), and that he made every effort to verify the trustworthiness of the imposter ATRs and was misled by them.

"National Olympic Committees have every right to choose their ATR and receive compensation for their appointment," the statement added. "Our client’s intentions were always lawful and in no way did he want to by-pass any rules."

Party for Israeli IOC Member

With a number of IOC colleagues in attendance, IOC member Alex Gilady celebrated his 70th birthday Dec. 9 with a soiree at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

No word on the crowd numbers, but the event had been planned to take advantage of the European Olympic Committees meeting that was to have been held last weekend in the Red Sea resort of Eilat. But the outbreak of conflict last month between Israel and Hamas led the EOC to move that meeting to Rome.

Nonetheless, among the IOC members who headed to Tel Aviv from Rome were Ser Miang Ng, Irina Szewinska, Tsunekazu Takeda and Gunilla Lindberg. New British Olympic Association chair Sebastian Coe and spouse Carole Annett also made the journey from Rome to sing happy birthday.

FINA Confirms Clean Olympics

Swimming, diving and water polo at London 2012 was a clean affair, reports the International Aquatics Federation.

"On doping issues, the Bureau was officially informed that all the tests (433 urine and 85 blood analysis) carried out in the five aquatic disciplines at the 2012 Olympic Games were negative," reads a FINA statement following Sunday’s meeting of the ruling Bureau in Istanbul.

The news comes ahead of this week’s FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) beginning Wednesday in the Turkish capital.

Written by Ed Hula, Matthew Grayson and Ed Hula III.

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