Olympic Newsdesk -- Putin in Sochi; IAAF in Beijing; Infamous Medal Up for Auction

Putin Inspects Sochi

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with IOC Coordination Commission chiefs examining preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Putin today met with commission leader Jean-Claude Killy and IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli and toured the Olympic Park in the Black Sea resort where the coastal cluster of ice venues are under construction.

Six venues are being built on the 200-hectare Olympic Park; along with the London 2012 Olympic site, they are the biggest building sites in Europe.

Putin also reportedly inspected some of the houses built for people who were relocated to make way for Olympic venues and infrastructure and checked out construction of the Adler to Alpica service road.

Around 1,000 Sochi residents across the city have been forced to move because of work for the Olympics.

The IOC inspectors are seeking significant progress since their last visit in April when there was little to see at the Olympic Park site. Skiing venues in the Krasnaya Polyana mountains 30km away are either complete or under construction.

Olympstroy, the state company in charge of venue and infrastructure developments for the Games, is overseeing work across 250 Olympic-related projects.

Killy meets with Russia's Olympic organizers in Moscow or Sochi for project reviews every two months. After a check-up early last month, he declared his satisfaction with Sochi's preparations.

On Thursday, Killy and Felli will give their evaluation of Russia's progress at a press conference that concludes the IOC's two-day inspection visit.

IAAF Evaluation Commission in Beijing

Athletics governing body, the IAAF inspected Beijing’s bid for the 2015 IAAF world championships.

The Evaluation Commission spent two days in Beijing looking at the sites that would be used during the event.

Sergey Bubka, IAAF vice president heads the commission and said the "evaluation team has been very warmly welcomed and have had very fruitful meetings. We are pleased to see the level of support for this bid from the Chinese authorities and there seems to be a real desire to build on the legacy of the 2008 Games by staging the World Championships in the Bird’s Nest stadium. This bid from Beijing is a very serious one, with all partners committed and passionate about making athletics even more popular in China."

Beijing is running against London for the right to stage the championships.

A decision will be made on November 20 at the IAAF Council in Monte Carlo.

Also on the panel are Dahlan Al-Hamad, Nawal El Moutawakel, Alberto Juantorena, IAAF General Secretary Pierre Weiss, and key IAAF staff.

Bidding Open for Iconic Olympic Gold

Olympic champion sprinter and black power icon Tommie Smith is selling the gold he donned during perhaps the most famous medal ceremony in Olympic history.

Bidding starts at $250,000 for the package that also includes the red Puma track spikes he wore during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

The time of 19.83 seconds was a world record and the first 200m race run in under 20 seconds.

Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists in a black power salute as a stance against black poverty as the U.S. anthem played during the medal ceremony. The duo was immediately sent home and received death threats and other ostracism upon return to the U.S.

M.I.T. Memorabilia is handling the auction, which closes Nov. 4.

A $100,000 deposit must precede any bid.

The San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday that Smith is selling the medal for the moneybut is not desperate.

An M.I.T. spokesperson told the newspaper Smith lost the famous glove.

Gambia Postpones NOC Election

Gambia’s National Olympic Committee will have to wait a week to elect a new president.

The Gambian National Sports Council announced Wednesday that it was postponing the election, originally scheduled for October 16, until Oct. 20.

"By way of strictly adhering to constitutional provision, the new date for the elections is Wednesday, 20 October, 2010," the NSC said in a statement, explaining its decision.

Lang Tombong Tamba, the former GNOC president, was sentenced to death for his role in a coup to overthrow the government. He was elected GNOC president last year. Beatrice Allen, the IOC member from Gambia is currently the acting president.

London Mayor: Marathon Critics Are ‘Bonkers’

London Mayor Boris Johnson says critics of the recently revised Olympic marathon route are "stark raving bonkers" and must now "like it or lump it".

The comments follow LOCOG’s announcement last weekthat the 2012 races would start and finish in The Mall in central London.

The IOC approved the route despite opposition to LOCOG's decision to move the marathon from the east of the city and a finish at the Olympic Stadium.

"To say that east Londoners have been short-changed because of the re-routing of a twenty-minute marathon route that no longer goes through Tower Hamlets I think people will think that you’re stark raving bonkers," Johnson said Wednesday during his monthly Q&A with British MPs.

"I didn’t challenge it because I agree with it! I’ve said what I think about it. I think I’ve given a very robust view. That is my view and you can like it or lump it."

Organizers tweaked the route to prevent closing Tower Bridge on one of the busiest days of the Games, a decision LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said was one of his hardest decisions yet.

It’s North America Versus World In Curling Cup

The U.S. and Canada will take on the world next January in the 2011 World Financial Group Continental Cup, curling’s equivalent of golf’s Ryder Cup.

The seventh annual installment of this quirky tradition pits six teams from North America against six teams from the rest of the world in a winner-take-all format.

Each side has three wins since the inaugural Cup back in 2002.

Four teams from Canada and two from the U.S. will compete against squads from Scotland, Norway, Sweden, China, Germany and Switzerland.

Canadian sports channel TSN will broadcast the event slated for Jan. 13-16.

Rogge Visits FEI

IOC president Jacques Rogge today made an informal visit to the construction site of the new headquarters of the International Equestrian Federation, FEI.

Rogge was viewing the construction progress. He was accompanied by FEI president Princess Haya.

The FEI's new headquarters, with office space covering nearly 41000 square feet over six levels, will open early next year. The official inauguration will be part of the federation's 90th anniversary celebrations.

Written by Ed Hula III and Matthew Grayson.