Barbados Olympics Association Plays Host for Bid Cities, Legacy Lives Guests
The Barbados Olympic Association played a background role in this week’s Legacy Lives conference on the island, but President Steve Stoute, secretary general Erskine Simmons and other leaders of the association were on hand for the two day meeting, along with Barbadian IOC member Austin Sealy.
Stoute and the BOA were hosts Wednesday night for a dinner for about 40 guests from the conference, many of them connected with cities bidding for the Olympics, as well as the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Representatives from Chicago, Doha, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro all wound up at the same long table at the restaurant, happily sharing this early stop on a global trek for the Games. Madrid delegates who came to Barbados were also invited to the dinner, but the trio from Spain had to leave earlier in the day.
Stoute and the BOA have a lot going on: a director has just come on board for the Barbados Olympic Academy and IOC President Jacques Rogge is supposed to make a visit in March to dedicate the new Olympic Centre for the BOA.
Spain, Portugal Announce Iberian Congress
The national Olympic committees of Spain and Portugal will hold a Congress of Iberian Sport in April to discuss greater cooperation between the two countries. Spanish Olympic Committee Secretary General Victor Sanchez said the congress is a step toward "twinning" the two agencies and is an extension of some continuing "interesting initiatives."
Sanchez said that this congress won't talk about a joint application to the Games, but despite legal difficulties, becoming a joint candidate is still feasible and possibly desirable. Portuguese Olympic Committee president Jose Vicente Moura said that this is an opportunity with a great power in sport, and it should help development.
The congress will be held in Madrid on April 18-19.
African National Teams Missing Quality Players
Romain Sato, a professional basketball player it Italy, declined to play for the Central African Republic national team in last summer's International Basketball Federation Championship, citing a lack of professionalism on the team's part. He said he has not quit the team, and he will always support his country.
"They contacted me on very short notice," he explained.
"For me, two or three days before the preparation is not acceptable. It is not fair for the group. We were not going to an important tournament such as the Africa Championship on vacation. We were going to compete. They just have to take it seriously and work alongside with the players."
According to Sato, several talented Africans are playing abroad, but not coming home, including Benjamin Eze, another who's had success in Europe. Sato said that Angola is the only national team that puts money into their program. Angola won its ninth African championship last summer.
Briefs...
World Championship Sports Network, which offers in-depth coverage of Olympic and lifestyle sports, and Ski Press World, a leading snow sport news and information portal, have teamed up to provide a cross-promotional platform that will deliver the latest news to ski fans. Both websites, SkiPressWorld.comand WCSN.com, will offer editorial, short-form video segments and on-demand FIS Ski World Cup webcasts. In January, WCSN announced a similar deal with Swimming World Magazine.
Though double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius still plans to appeal his athletics ban, he said he is no longer aiming for the Beijing Games. The South African was banned from able-bodied competitions by the International Association of Athletics Federations earlier this month because a study found his Cheetah prosthetics gave him a technical advantage. Pistorius said he plans to focus on the 2012 London Games because he won't be able to compete in any 2008 qualifiers. Pistorius has yet to achieve a sprint time that would guarantee him a spot in Beijing.
The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football has scrapped its Champions Cup and will replace it with a 24 club team Champions League in August. The United States and Mexico will each place four teams in the tournament, the Caribbean region will send three, and two each will travel from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. One team each will come from Belize, Canada, Belize and Nicaragua.
Asterix at the Olympics hit French theaters on Jan. 30. In what is the most expensive French movie ever made at $92 million, comic book heroes Asterix, Obelix, and their druid try to help the young love-struck Gaul Alafolix win the heart of Greek Princess Irina at the ancient Games. The French NOC held a prescreening of the film at its Paris headquarters on Jan. 29. The film opened on more than 1,000 screens nationwide in the midst of a huge publicity blitz, but critics are calling the movie mediocre.
The Winter X Games, an international action snowsport comeptition, took place from January 24 to 27, and American Olympians turned in an impressive performance. Of the 19 American athletes that competed, five -- Gretchen Bleiler, Shaun White, Daron Rahlves, Nate Holland, and Lindsay Jacobellis -- managed gold medals and one, Casey Puckett, copped a bronze.
Bulgarian Maxim Staviski, a world ice dancing champion, was handed a two and a half year suspended sentence for killing a man while driving drunk. In November 2007, he plowed into an oncoming car while his blood alcohol level was twice the normal limit. Staviski also lost his driving license for four years, will be on probation for five years, and was sentenced to pay a fine totaling $127,000 by a Bulgarian court.
Frantisek Capek, a Chezch flatwater canoe champion at the 1948 Games, died at the age of 93 on Jan. 31 due to a heart condition. His funeral is planned for Feb. 11 in Prague.
Written by Ed Hula and Eric Connelly
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