Rogge Delight at Athletics Legacy for Olympic Stadium
IOC president Jacques Rogge tells Around the Rings the 50-year agreement to secure the athletics legacy at the 2012 Olympic stadium is "excellent news".
Announced Tuesday, the deal is between E20 Stadium LLP, the partnership between the London Legacy Development Corporation and the borough of Newham to manage the venue, and UK Athletics.
"There have been threats at a certain moment to have no track around the stadium. I am very glad," Rogge told ATR Tuesday.
The Belgian claimed the deal was an indication that London 2012 organizers had finally delivered on the legacy promise made to the IOC in 2005 to deliver an athletics legacy.
"Seb Coe and the IAAF have prevailed. It gives an extra dimension to the value of the stadium," he added.
The stadium will become the new national center for athletics. UKA will have use of the venue from the last Friday in June to the end of July each year, starting from 2016 when the stadium will be fully operational following its legacy transformation.
UK Athletics will hold its annual London Diamond League meetings, alongside a whole spectrum of national level and age group championships. The agreement also provides year-round training facilities for local athletes and clubs at an adjacent permanent community track.
In 2017, the stadium will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships and IPC Athletics World Championships.
As part of its multi-use legacy, the venue will also host five matches during the 2015 Rugby World Cup and will be home of West Ham United Football Club from 2016; the club will take residency as the long-term anchor tenant with UKA. Other sporting, and entertainment events including concerts are also planned.
Putin Ally Suggests Psychiatric Treatment for Boycott Talks
Any talk of boycotting the Sochi Olympics due to new Russian policies suggests possible insanity, according to an ally of Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to BuzzFeed, Andranik Migranyan, the director of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation said: "I think that people who propose these kinds of ideas, they need to go to examine their head at a psychiatrist’s because one must be absolutelycrazy to propose these kind of ideas, because the Olympics have nothing to do with laws Duma passed."
Criticisms have surfaced over new laws cracking down on gay rights movements in Russia. An op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times from actor Harvey Firestein made the case for a boycott, and leading U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), argued for a boycott over the ongoing Edward Snowden situation.
"The people who are trying to push forward these kinds of crazy ideas, they have no idea what’s going on in Russia, what is public mood, what Russian authorities are trying to regulate," Migranyan added. "That’s why they really need to go to doctor.
"At this moment Russia is one of the most free countries in the sense of respecting every kind of right, every kind of minorities. The only problem is nobody wants any pride parade because as I said, nobody wants any propaganda of any way of life which one part of society wants to impose on the others. Leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone."
The Institute for Democracy and Cooperation reportedly acts as "an unofficial spokesman for Putin’s policies."
Squash Tops for Lunch
Squash—the sport—is the most popular lunchtime exercise in the United Kingdom.
A statement from the World Squash Federation released on Tuesday announced the poll results from a study conducted by online sports equipment retailer Sweatband.com.
Twenty-one percent of those polled preferred squash to 18 percent of respondents who selected "gym" as their most popular lunchtime exercise.
"Squash is so well-fitted for the modern lifestyle," said World Squash Federation CEO Andrew Shelley. "Not only does it provide great exercise in a short time span but there is no routine, no going through the motions.
Along with baseball/softball and wrestling, squash is attempting to join the 2020 Olympic Program. The IOC will make a selection at the IOC Session in September.
Written byMark Bisson and Ed Hula III.
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