IOC Tabs Integrity Chief
Around the Rings has learned that the IOC has appointed Friedrich Martens as its head of betting/integrity reporting.
"We can confirm that Friedrich Martens has been hired within the office of the ethics commission, working under ethics commission secretary Paquerette Girard-Zappelli," an IOC spokesman told ATR.
Friedrich Martens announced he had joined the IOC before its communication team. He posted a change of job message on LinkedIn. It notes that he has already been working on the ethics commission for a month.
The spokesman confirmed that Martens would serve the IOC as head of betting/integrity reporting.
The IOC appointment is another key hire for Bach, signaling his intentions to tackle the threat of match-fixing and illegal betting head on.
Following a four-day executive board brainstorming session in Montreux nearly two weeks ago, Bach announced that a $10 million fund would be used to help establish the Integrity Betting Intelligence System (IBIS), an anticorruption, anti-manipulation system of intelligence to protect the Olympics from subterfuge.
It was one of three or four topics which have been pushed forward by executive action, rather than wait for EB approval.
Martens brings experience in a similar role at FIFA subsidiaryEarly Warning System (EWS) to the IOC position. He was manager of competition analysis at FIFA’s widely acclaimed EWS for nearly two years, from January 2011 to December 2012.
EWS was set up by world football’s governing body in 2007 to monitor sports betting on all FIFA tournaments and safeguard the integrity of football. The IOC commissioned EWS to monitor betting patterns at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Oslo 2022 Bid Proceeds
Auditors have paved the way forward for Oslo to pursue its 2022 Winter Olympic ambitions.
A review by a group of external risk managers commissioned by the Norwegian government said Friday the bid is on a sound financial footing.
Consultants DNV GL, who led the audit, reported no major weaknesses in the city’s initial Olympic plan. But it raised the state financial guarantee to NOK 35.1 billion ($5.6 billion), according to a report by German news agency DPA.
"The report will be studied thoroughly," culture and sports minister Thorhild Widvey was quoted by the German news agency after receiving the report.
State and national government politicians will debate the value of investing in the Olympic project in the coming months and whether the new conservative administration should back the bid. Financial guarantees from government must be submitted by the IOC’s January 2015 deadline.
The 1952 Winter Olympic host is one of six applicants for the 2022 Games. The other bidders are Almaty, Beijing, Krakow, Lviv, and Stockholm.
After making initial applications to stage the Games last month, the cities must submit their first bid documents to the IOC by March 14. The IOC votes on the host city in July 2015.
Nanjing Medal Design
Matej Čička, a 23-year-old from Slovakia, bested over 300 participants from 50 counties when he was named the winner of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Medal Design Competition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Čička says that his winning design, entitled "Track of Winners", was inspired by the athlete’s track: "To me, [the athlete’s track] means the base of the Youth Olympic Games. So I put it into my concept and used different shapes to represent the winning athletes and the podium."
The judges described "Track of Winners" as "modern, fresh and dynamic."
The competition was launched in September.
Thomas Heatherwick, an acting judge in the competition, said, "It's been thrilling to have the chance to look through so many exciting ideas from all over the world and to feel how much the Youth Olympic Games mean to young people."
For his winning submission, Čička will receive a trip to the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Nanjing from August 16th to 28th, 2014, and tickets to the games’ opening ceremonies. His designs will be featured on the gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded during the games, and Čička will receive a set of medals for himself.
Written by Mark Bisson and Andrew Murrell
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