Free Admission for Arab Games; Busy Week for IOC; Twin Legacies for Beijing

Tickets Free for Arab Games

After organizers declared all morning sessions ticket-free for 23 of 29 sports on the Arab Games program, all events are now open to all comers. The only exception is the closing ceremony Dec. 23.

Previously excluded were all team sports as well as athletics.

Qatar Olympic Committee press chief Hassan Abdullah Al Muhammadi tells Around the Rings that sponsors who have already bought up large blocks of tickets will be distributing them to the public every day at the venues.

The first few days of competition have featured crowds that verged on non-existent. The 12th Arab Games opened Dec. 9.

Hassan says he expects interest will increase as the Games progress and says some events will reach capacity with the help of groups of schoolchildren issued tickets from sponsors.

Busy Week for IOC Chief

Meetings with three international federation presidents and the new Ghana Olympic Committee chief form part of a busy week for IOC president Jacques Rogge.

On Tuesday, he will meet with IOC member and International Boxing Association president C.K. Wu as well as the president of the Swatch Group Nicholas Hayek Jr., Swiss Timing CEO Eckhard Frank and director general Christophe Berthaud.

He is also finding time for talks with World Squash Federation president N. Ramachandran and to attend a meeting among the IOC, the City of Lausanne and the city's sports leaders.

Rogge is due to participate in the meeting of the Olympic Museum Foundation Executive Committee on Wednesday. He will also join NOC Relations Director Pere Miró, to welcome a delegation from the GOC led by its new president Francis Dodoo.

On Thursday, Rogge is scheduled to meet Antonio Espinos, president of the World Karate Federation. Also that day, he will receive the vice mayor of Shanghai, Zhao Wen. IOC director general Christophe De Kepper is also attending.

Rogge and De Kepper fly to Athens on Friday to take part in the lighting ceremony of the flame for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck.

Mayor Defends 2012 Transport Plan

London Mayor Boris Johnson is dismissing concerns that the British capital will be hit by transport chaos during next year's Games.

In a keynote speech Monday at the IPPR London Policy Conference, he said the naysayers' predictions were akin to those who forecast a "Millennium Bug".

"Many say London will be gridlocked and expensive and traffic will be dominated by whizzing limousines of Olympic bureaucrats throwing up road spray into the face of multitudes of Londoners," he was quoted by Reuters.

"I genuinely believe that when the Games are under way,we will look back at the anxieties as a kind of Millennium Bug that never materialized because most people traveling in most parts of London will not even notice that the route network exists.

Also this week, the London Assembly Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee will examine the mayor’s Olympic Sport Legacy Fund spending for the year. Launched in 2009 to deliver a sport legacy in London, the Fund is unlikely to use all its funding this year, according to the Assembly.

Sub-Committee members will grill sport officials Tuesday about the Fund’s budget.

Environment, Infrastructure Top Beijing Legacies

Yang Shu’an, the former executive vice president for BOCOG says the top legacies of the 2008 Olympics are an improved environment and transportation infrastructure.

Yang made the comments on Sunday at a joint appearance with LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe, according to an AFP report.

"The legacies of the Games for the Chinese people and those living in Beijing are multifaceted," he was quoted by AFP. "But the first two are an improved transport infrastructure and environment."

"Everybody living in Beijing has realized the unique opportunities created by the Olympics and can see... the overall environment has improved."

Pollution in China and especially Beijing has historically been a major problem. At the end of October, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said the city’s pollution was "hazardous" after a thick coat of smog hit the city. However, official Chinese government reports say the pollution level is merely "slightly polluted".

Yang conceded there are "challenges to sustain the Olympic legacies".

Schamasch to Retire from IOC

The IOC tells Around the Rings that its medical director Patrick Schamasch will retire next year after the 2012 Olympics.

A spokesman said the IOC was currently seeking a replacement "who can work in tandem with Schamasch in London to ensure a smooth transfer of knowledge and changeover."

Schamasch's successor will be charged with assisting Olympic Games organizers, updating the IOC’s medical policy and doping control, among other responsibilities.

Feb. 15 is the deadline for job application submissions.

Ragnhild Hveger, Silver Medalist, 90

Ragnhild Hveger, a Danish Olympian who won a silver in the 400m freestyle swimming event at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, died. She was 90.

Hveger set 44 world records over the course of her career.

Written by Ed Hula III andMark Bisson

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