Weightlifting Possible for Baku 2015; Race for 2020 Wasn't "Fair"

Weightlifting Possible for Euro Games

Baku 2015 chief operating officer Jim Scherr tells Around the Rings that talks are taking place with weightlifting leaders about joining the sports program for the first European Games.

The former U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive, who is now based in Baku, confirmed to ATR that negotiations were underway in Buenos Aires where the IOC Session wrapped up Tuesday.

Weightlifting would become the 19th sport on the program of the inaugural European Games.

The official website of the Games lists the sports that have so far signed up to participate. Athletics is also listed but Baku2015.com notes that its involvement in the multisport event is "yet to be confirmed."

Officials working on Games preparations told ATR in Buenos Aires that athletics could still feature in some format. European Athletic Association president Hansjörg Wirz discussed plans with the Azerbaijan athletics federation on a visit to Baku in the summer.

Spyros Capralos, chairman of the EOC’s European Games Coordination Commission, told ATR that preparations for the event were going well.

A full inspection visit by the EOC’s coordination commission is planned at the end of October.

Erdogan Says Vote Not "Fair" ​

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the IOC decision to award the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo was not "fair." ​

"Both Tokyo and Madrid have hosted the games before; Istanbul hasn't. It hasn't been fair," Erdogan was quoted as saying in Turkish media. "In a way, they are cutting ties with the 1.5-billion-people Muslim world."

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"It hasn't been fair," Erdogan told Turkish media, noting that both Japan and Spain have hosted the Games before.

Madrid Passing on 2024​

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Madrid seems unlikely to launch its fourth straight Olympic bid. ​

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Mayor Ana Botella said on Thursday the city would not launch another bid.

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"I think the race for the Olympics has now already given us all the benefits we can expect from it inthe coming years," she was quoted as saying. "And I think Madrid therefore should not try to host the2024 Olympics."

France Undecided on 2024

AFP reports that France has not made a commitment either way on whether to submit a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

With Tokyo’s victory clearing the way for another continent to win the 2024 bid, French sports minister Valerie Fourneyron was asked in Buenos Aires about her country’s interest in running.

"Let’s be clear: it’s too early to say that France will be a candidate in 2024," Fourneyron said.

She said feasibility studies would have to be conducted before a French bid could move forward.

"An Olympic bid isn’t only a technical bid about equipment and competition sites; it’s also a question of the social acceptability of the project for the country," she added.

The deadline to submit bids for 2024 is September 2015.

Japan Upset by French Cartoon

Japan will issue a formal complaint after a French newspaper published a cartoon lampooning Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympics, according to Reuters.

The cartoon in the satirical publication Le Canard Enchaine depicts sumo wrestlers with extra limbs standing in front of the Fukushima power plant while an announcer says, "Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport."

Concerns about the 2011 nuclear disaster dogged the Tokyo 2020 bid throughout its campaign, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assured the IOC the situation is "under control."

"This cartoon hurts the feelings of those who suffered through the Great East Japan Earthquake," said Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary. "It is inappropriate and gives a wrong impression of the Fukushima contaminated water issue. It is extremely regrettable."

Written by Ed Hula III and Nick Devlin.

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