IOC Chief Confirms Two Sports for Copenhagen Vote

(ATR) IOC President Jacques Rogge clears up confusion over voting for new sports to join the Olympics, saying only two of the seven bidding to join the program will be considered at the IOC vote in Copenhagen in October.

“The procedure is very clear. There will be no other proposals,” Rogge told a news conference wrapping up two days of IOC Executive Board meetings. “If they [IOC members] refuse the sports, that is the end of the story at this stage, and then the system has to be reinvented for the future.”

Baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby, softball and squash pressed their cases for inclusion in the 2016 Games at briefings with the EB Monday. The IOC’s rule-making body will recommend two sports to the Session for the vote at its next meeting in Berlin in August.

Rogge was responding to speculation swirling around IOC headquarters in Lausanne that the five sports rejected at the Berlin meeting might have the chance to be reconsidered for the 2016 program in another vote at the session if the two sports are rejected.

Asked what he would say to candidate sports said to feel cheated at not being given the chance to present to the Copenhagen IOC Session, Rogge said: “I can only tell you that these sports have not been listening well at what was decided at the IOC Session in Guatamala in 2007.”

He told reporters that guidance for the procedure came from that Session, with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations among the bodies to sanction the change.

“I can understand those [sports] who don’t feel confident… to try to have a second chance or backdoor. But the spirit of the Session is absolutely crystal clear,” he said.

But Rogge failed to shed light on whether there will be two separate votes for the individual sports, or a bloc vote for both of them at the Session on Oct. 9.

The Olympic Charter allows for both systems, he said. The EB would determine the voting procedure based on the characteristics of the two sports it selects at the Berlin meeting.

Commenting on the pitches of the seven sports, Rogge praised the federations for delivering “excellent” presentations, which he said were “very professional, very interesting, with the presence of very motivated athletes.”

Rogge Rejects Geo-politics in 2016 Decision

Rogge insists the decision on the host city for the 2016 Olympics should not be based around geo-political issues or commercial interests that might boost IOC coffers.

“I am not very fond of what I would call geo-political considerations around the Games,” he said.

His comments came in response to a question querying whether it was time for the IOC to choose a new continent to stage the Olympics, a theme Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is pitching aggressively on his travels in support of Rio’s bid for the 2016 Games.

“This is something we will take into consideration… this is for the members to decide,” he said.

He also said economics should not drive the decision of IOC members, saying: “We have shown frequently in the past that we didn’t necessarily go for the richest city and I believe we are right to do that. Every IOC member has their sets of criteria by which they cast their vote.”

The IOC chief was echoing remarks made to reporters earlier in the day by marketing commission chair Gerhard Heiberg.

Asked what the decision should be based on, he said: “The Games are for the athletes, they are not for any other superior goal. They are for a generation of athletes who have fought very hard for eight or 12 years to get to the Games.”

Although Rogge will not vote at the IOC Session in Copenhagen, he said his criteria for choosing the 2016 city would likely be shared by the vast majority of IOC members. These included providing a good Olympic Village, transportation system and state-of-the-art venues.

“Ultimately, it’s not economics but leaving a sustainable legacy because when we leave we want this to be a bonus for the city, for the region and the country,” he said.

Rogge confirmed that 92 IOC members were present in Lausanne to hear presentations by the four candidate cities for the 2016 Games. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo will make their appeals Wednesday at the Olympic Museum.

The initiative is an unprecedented move for the IOC designed to allow bid cities to have greater access to the members who will vote at the Session Oct. 2.

“I am very pleased by the success of this initiative,” he said, adding that the briefings would allow the cities a “very close interface” with IOC members during which they could provide technical information to enhance their chances in the IOC vote.

Support for British Football Team for 2012

FIFA’s approval of a Great Britain football team at the 2012 Olympic Games made up entirely of English players has received Rogge’s blessing.

The proposal by the Football Associations for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales was sanctioned at FIFA’s executive committee meeting in Nassau, Bahamas last week.

“We are glad a solution was found because this was a protest whereby there was a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

“We respect fully the decisions of our British friends. If they decide the home unions will be represented by England that is fine for us, we have no problem with that. And it’s fine for FIFA too so that clears the problem.”

The FAs had reached the compromise deal amid concerns they might lose their independence in the FIFA family if they agreed to allow their players to represent a Great Britain team at the 2012 Games.

IOC Suspends Kuwait NOC

Unless there’s a change in Kuwaiti law by the end of July, the IOC plans to suspend the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait. The suspension would be the result of more than two years of government interference in the operations of sports federations, which is against Rule 28.9 in the Olympic Charter.

Rogge says he expected the dispute to be settled before the deadline for suspension.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.