(ATR) The media are still reeling from SportAccord president Marius Vizer's harsh critique of the IOC and Olympic Agenda 2020.
"It came like a thunderbolt Monday," AP writer Stephen Wilson says.
"An Olympic powerbroker publicly rebuking the IOC and its president at a global conference."
He adds, "It was the host ripping into his invited guest.SportAccord? More like SportDiscord."
In an interview with Euronews on Thursday, Vizer said the IOC must now choose between clean-up and cover-up.
"The question is to clean up the system and to make it fair for the benefit of sport," Vizer explained. "Not a system that defends itself and a specific group of leaders or cardinals of sport because we don't need that and sport doesn't need that.
"We don't need cardinals of sport. We don't need popes.We need fair leaders who are models and examples for us."
Vizer, who is also president of the International Judo Federation, also said his background has helped shape his approach to leadership.
"I was a soldier and my life was long and difficult till now, and always in my strategies I have different versions.
"So be sure that I am prepared for the second and the third step, not only with speeches but also with action and strategies."
Following Vizer's speech, international summer sports federations immediately began distancing their organizations from SportAccord.
In a separate AP report, Lamine Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, is quoted as saying Vizer resembles"a chief or dictator coming from nowhere, telling major sports federations what to do."
On Tuesday, Reuters reporter Tony Jimenez said that the Association of Summer Olympic Federations Council unanimously decided to suspend ASOIF's association with SportAccord with immediate effect pending a full review.
James Ellingsworth, writing for the AP, saidthat Vizer apologized to the ASOIF assembly Wednesday for the manner and time he made his statements, but stands behind his comments and opinions.
"Shortly after delivering his remarks, Vizer left the ASOIF meeting and did not take part in later discussions on Olympic revenue distribution and preparations for next year's Rio de Janeiro Games," Ellingsworth adds.
In Other News
Mehr News spotlights traditional Iranian wrestling was showcased at SportAccord Convention.
Isa Mo'meni, an official member of Iran's Wrestling Federation, told the Iranian news agency that his meeting with Michel Dusson, secretary general of the United World Wrestling "played an important role in showing Iran’s position in wrestling to the enthusiasts across the globe."
Writing for business news site Fortune, Dan Primack says Boston's tech problem is the same as its Olympic problem. "Our Yankee heritage has gotten the better of us.
"We're always preparing for the next winter, too focused on what we know is next to consider what could be next.
"Pessimism-tinged realism in an era otherwise filled with technological marvels that were willed into being by unbridled optimism."
Primack adds, "The 2024 Olympic Games haven't come here yet, and seem less likely to arrive with each passing day.
"What once was little more than an aspirational pipe-dream has quickly morphed into a community piñata, much to the U.S. Olympic Committee's chagrin."
On Friday, April 24, ABC News reporter Diane Sawyer speaks with Olympian Bruce Jenner.
In the report, airing at 9 p.m. EST, the former U.S. track and field athlete opens up to ABC News about his life after the Olympics.
Compiled by Andrew Murrelland Nicole Bennett
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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