OLYMPIC GAMES

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By: Duncan Mackay

July 23 - Sebastian Coe has dropped his biggest hint yet that he plans to challenge for the top job in athletics after he finishes organising the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

Britain's double Olympic 1500 metres has long been tipped to replace Lamine Diack as the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) when the Senegalese steps down.

"My focus post-2012 will be track and field, absolutely," Coe told Reuters in an interview.

"There's no question about that.

"I am standing [again] for the [IAAF] vice-presidency [at the World Championships] in Daegu and I am very clear that track and field is the reason I will stay in sport.

"There aren't that many other reasons.

"That will be my primary focus after 2012."

A sign of Coe's commitment was, that despite his busy schedule at London 2012, he is this weekend attending the European Junior Championships in Tallin, the Estonian capital, watching the stars of tomorrow.

Diack had originally claimed that he would step down this year following the completition of his latest four-year term as IAAF President but subsequently changed his mind and will stand again in Daegu next month.

He will be unopposed after Coe and another potential challenger, Ukraine's former 1988 Olympic pole vault champion Sergey Bubka (pictured right with Coe), stepped back from putting themselves forward.

Coe is one of six candidates chasing four vice-president positions in Daegu, where he will be up against Bubka, Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad, America's Robert Hersh, Canada's Abby Hoffman and Kenya's Isaiah Kiplagat.

It is widely assumed that the candidate who polls the most votes will be appointed as the senior vice-president which will put them in the best position to take over from Diack if he fails to complete his full four-year term or when he finally steps down.

Coe, 54, though, insists that he has made no decision about whether to stand for President in the 2015 at the IAAF Congress in Beijing, even though the position comes with guaranteed membership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"No, of course not," said Coe when asked by Reuters whether he would stand.

"But I have the support of the President to stand for the vice-presidency.

"He was very generous in saying four years ago that 'your responsibility to my sport is to deliver a great athletics championship in London and I want you to focus on that and then we will talk about the future'."

But there is no doubt that Coe will be just as focussed on achieving his ambitions in the boardroom as he was on the track, where he also won an Olympic silver and bronze medals and set 12 world records.

"I came out of Moscow [1980] and I was immediately thinking Los Angeles [1984]

"I came out of Beijing [2008] and I'm thinking London in four years' time.

"I do have that competitors' instinct that a year out, where was I mentally and physically a year out from the Games as a competitor?

"The art is to recognise that you have game plans as a competitor, you never go into a race without a game plan."

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By: Tom Degun

July 18 - Urvasi Naidoo, the chief executive of the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), has claimed that her sport is still hopeful of inclusion at the Olympic Games in the long term future despite missing out on a place at the 2020 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed on a shortlist of eight sports to be considered for inclusion in 2020 during their Session in Durban earlier this month, with baseball, karate, roller sports, softball, sports climbing, squash, wakeboard and wushu chosen.

Netball - along with dance, bowling and surf - was considered for the 2020 Olympic programme by the IOC but failed to make it onto the shortlist - a decision that came as somewhat of a surprise given the stature of netball compared with roller sports and sports climbing - but Naidoo remains upbeat despite the blow.

"It is a long term aspiration for netball to be in the Olympics and we will continue to work with the IOC to achieve that," Naidoo told insidethegames.

"We have annual meetings with the Sports Department of the IOC and we are very pleased with netball's progress to date.

"We are encouraged that netball made the long list and we will continue to work harder over the next five years to achieve our goal of seeing netball in the Olympics in the future."

Netball has been on the sports programme at the Commonwealth Games since 1998 and has featured at every addition of the competition since, proving highly popular with the spectators.

Naidoo believes this growing popularity will help the sport achieve its ultimate goal of featuring at the Olympic Games.

"We continue to grow and expand globally with new member countries joining us this month, including Austria, Ethiopia, Brunei and Nepal," she said.

"We will hold an inaugural FISU University Championship in Netball next year.

"Our recent World Championships in Singapore was a huge success and is a showcase for how great netball can be in terms of broadcast, sponsorship and ticketing."

The World Championships at the 12,000 capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium were won by Australia, who claimed their tenth world title.

New Zealand picked up the silver medal while England claimed bronze.

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By: Tom Degun in London

July 18 - Up to 1,000 local sports clubs and facilities across England are set to be upgraded thanks to a £50 million ($80 million) National Lottery fund, which was launched here in Central London today by Sport England chief executive Jennie Price (pictured) and Minister for Sport and the Olympics Hugh Robertson.

The Inspired Facilities Fund is part of the People Places Play legacy programme, a £135 million ($217 million) National Lottery scheme launched at the end of last year to allow people in communities across England to take part in sport off the back of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games in London next year.

The programme, delivered by Sport England in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA), with the backing of London 2012, has been designed to be as simple and accessible as possible for potential applicants - particularly first time funding applicants - with the aim of making it attractive to community groups and sports clubs who have never received public funding before.

"I hope that many of the groups who benefit from Inspired Facilities will be receiving Lottery Funding for the first time," Price told insidethegames.

"Those applying for Lottery Funding for the first time will receive priority in the funding allocation process and we have worked hard to simplify the application process which is just an eight-page document.

"We have a catalogue of ready-made options for successful groups to choose from whether they want new changing rooms, new floodlights or anything else.

"We are also giving groups the opportunity to make use of pre-appointed contractors who can do the work without the need for a lengthy procurement process.

"So we really want people across England to look back on 2012 not only as the year of the London 2012 Games but also as the year when their local sports facilities got better."

Sport England claim that the investment will breathe new life into tired facilities, while there will also be money available to convert existing non-sporting buildings into venues suitable for grassroots sport.

At least £35 million ($56 million will go to community and voluntary organisations through grants of between £20,000 ($32,170) and £50,000 ($80,420), with the remaining £15 million ($24 million) of money to be open to a wider group of organisations, including councils and schools, with grants of up to £150,000 ($241,260) available.

hugh_robertson_18-07-111"The £50 million ($80 million/€57 million) fund is a huge boost to community sport," said Robertson.

"It will transform local sports facilities up and down the country and leave a lasting legacy from London 2012 at a local level."

Applicants whose projects will benefit disadvantaged young people will also be invited to apply for funding from the Thomas Cook's Children's Charity from August of this year.

The charity is offering grants for sport as part of the Inspired Facilities Fund after becoming Sport England's latest corporate partner.

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

By Duncan Mackay in Tokyo

July 14 - A compromise has been reached in a potentially damaging row between London 2012 and the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) over expenses for next month's Chef de Mission meeting, it was revealed today.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge had been forced to step in last week to try to defuse a dispute over whether London should pay for the accommodation of 200-plus Chefs de Mission when they travel to the city for a meeting next month.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe was asked after addressing IOC members during the 123rd Session in Durban what plans had been put in place to cover these costs but indicated strongly that London was not prepared to pay.

"We have always been very clear about our plans," Coe said.

"I really don't think there's a great deal of ambiguity."

Rogge was quick to intervene.

"The issue of the accommodation is going to be studied by the [London 2012] Coordination Commission and we will try to find a solution," he said.

It has now been revealed that the cost of the accommodation at the Hilton Park Lane and the neighbouring InterContinental will be borne jointly by the IOC and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).

They have agreed to share the cost of one room per delegation at a price of approximately £200 ($323) per night for each delegation for the meeting, which is due to begin on August 9 and last until August 12.

In addition, Olympic Solidarity, the IOC-funded group set-up to assist NOCs, are covering the cost of one flight per delegation.

The compromise was announced by Gunnilla Lindberg, the ANOC general secretary, during a presentation here to the 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)

"You will all receive a letter in the next few days that will make you very happy," she told the delegates attending the OCA General Assembly at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in the Japanese capital.

The Chefs de Mission meeting, which includes a tour of the Olympic Park, including the Athletes Village, has assumed greater importance after the ANOC General Assembly next year was moved from London to Moscow because the British Olympic Association were unable to afford to host it.

It means this will be most countries only opportunity to visit London before the Games open on July 27 next year.

"It is very important that everyone is there because London is not hosing the ANOC meeting," Lindberg said.

London's refusal to pay for accommodation to attend the Chef de Mission event has caused some resentment among NOCs but Coe has made it clear that only Beijing 2008 had footed the bill for such an occasion in the past.

"It isn't really an issue because we have always been clear about those arrangements," said Coe.

"We have secured very competitive [hotel] prices for the NOCs.

"The only Games hosts who have ever paid were Beijing, otherwise it has always been the NOCs and the IOC."

Contact the writer of this story at duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz