ICYMI: Thoughts on Paris 2024 Sport Program; Panam Sports vs. Pandemic

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George Washington University student Filip Vachuda offers this analysis of changes to the 2024 Olympic sport program and what they could mean for the future of the Games.

By Filip Vachuda

(ATR) On the heels of the IOC Executive Board certifying the Paris 2024 event program, one thing is clear: the Games four years from now will be more inclusive, urban, gender-equal and sustainable than ever before.

Overall, the IOC has made significant improvements to how the Games will be run in future.

But there have also been some questionable additions and missed opportunities, as well as some intriguing discussions about the nature of the Games going forward.

Cutting the number of quotas, keeping event numbers constant and increasingly relying on existing venues will help minimize debt and disuse of stadiums in host cities.

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New Executive of Panam Sports Faced with Post-Pandemic Challenge

(ATR) The president of Panam Sports, the Chilean Neven Ilic, says his organization will join in the effort to ensure Olympic athletes from the Americas are vaccinated before travelling to the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In his first statement to international media shortly after being re-elected this Wednesday to a second term, Ilic told Around the Rings that "if it is in our hands, we will surely do it" in reference to the negotiations with the corresponding organizations to guarantee through the NOCs the vaccination against Covid.

"I think it is an additional security that can greatly serve the confidence of the Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee and for the athletes themselves," said Ilic by phone from the Panam Sports office in Miami.

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Doha, Riyadh Share the Glory

(ATR) The Olympic Council of Asia awards two editions of the Asian Games in one vote at its general assembly in Muscat, Oman.

Doha will host the 2030 Asiad, Riyadh will host the 2034 edition.

Originally both cities were campaigning for the 2030 games to be chosen by vote of the assembly. But in a meeting between the two competitors on the eve of the assembly Dec. 16, the cities agreed to awarding the two editions at once.

OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah arranged the meeting to propose that one vote be held with the winner receiving 2030 and that second would host 2034.

The OCA President says in a statement the last minute change was a move of "friendship, solidarity and unity" meant to produce a "win-win" situation.

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