The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IOC

  • Battle for powerful IOC presidency enters final stretch

    Battle for powerful IOC presidency enters final stretch

    Only a few people around the world know the name Thomas Bach and even fewer can rattle off those of the seven candidates out to replace him in March after 12 years as president of the International Olympic Committee.

    Yet despite that low profile, there is no bigger or more influential job in sport, and Bach’s successor will wield extraordinary political and financial clout across every country in the world.

    When the IOC’s 100-plus members, who include billionaires, global captains of industry, federation chiefs and royalty, go to the ballot in Greece on March 20 they will be effectively deciding on the direction much of the world of sport will take for the next eight years.

    World Athletics chief and former Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe is the biggest name of the seven candidates.

    Standing against him are Zimbabwe’s sports minister and former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry, the late former IOC president’s son Juan Antonio Samaranch, and international cycling chief David Lappartient. Completing the line-up are Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe and Olympic newcomer and multi-millionaire Johan Eliasch.

    They will each present their case to replace 71-year-old Bach to the membership in Lausanne  today, ahead of a final two-month push of behind-the-scenes lobbying.

    Read Also: Nigeria beat ireland in U-19 cricket world cup

    The IOC is by far the biggest and richest sports organisation in the world, dwarfing even world soccer’s ruling body FIFA, and wields its influence over almost every major international federation, new sports and national Olympic Committees.

    With multi-billion revenues from sponsors and broadcasters, it is far from limited to just hosting the summer and winter Olympics. The IOC has a direct or indirect say in every major international decision on sport, whether financial, political or structural.

    Sports do not only depend on Olympic funding over the Games’ four-year cycle, they are also reliant on the Olympic spotlight. New sports battle for Olympic recognition which brings a significant boost in publicity and awareness and can trigger new streams of revenue to fund growth.

    In Bach’s 12 years in charge, the German lawyer also developed close ties with many political leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country hosted the 2024 Olympics, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Putin was the first to congratulate Bach immediately after his election back in 2013, calling minutes after the vote as his country prepared to host the Sochi Winter Olympics, with an unprecedented cost of $51 billion.

    Sochi was subsequently tarnished by revelations of a massive state-backed doping system in Russia that turned into the biggest international drugs scandal in decades and forced the country’s athletes to compete as neutrals in several Olympics.

    Dealing with Russia, and the issue of trans and DSD (differences in sexual development) athletes in sport, featured in most of the candidates’ manifestos. But anyone thinking they will be primarily judged on their ability to bring peace and harmony, and promote sport and health around the world, is sadly deluded.

    “In this presidential election everyone votes for themselves. It is about money. The share for each stakeholder. It is no surprise that there are four federation presidents campaigning,” an international federation chief, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

    “Maybe it would have been more effective if there was only one representing the federations. But everyone has their own agenda in this election.”

  • IOC backs women boxers amid gender backlash

    IOC backs women boxers amid gender backlash

    The two women boxers at the heart of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics will stay in the competition for as long as they keep winning because they meet all eligibility criteria, the International Olympic Committee  has said.

    The IOC is in charge of holding the boxing tournament in Paris after stripping recognition of the International Boxing Association last year following failure to implement governance and finance reforms.

    Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting, who have reached the semifinals of their respective weight divisions, were cleared to compete at the Games despite having been disqualified during the 2023 World Championships.

    The IBA yesterday  said the boxers failed an eligibility test after having undergone a chromosome test during the 2023 worlds, and that the IBA had informed the IOC at the time.

    The boxing body insists the fighters should not be competing in Paris.

    “These athletes have been competing in senior competitions for six years with no issues,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. “These women were eligible for this contest, remain eligible for this contest and compete in this contest.”

    Read Also: West Ham sign Dortmund striker Fullkrug for £27m

    Both boxers have already secured at least a bronze medal by reaching this stage. Khelif, whose first-round fight against Angela Carini lasted 46 seconds before the Italian opted to stop after soaking up a string of powerful punches, faces Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng today . Lin takes on Turkey’s Esra Kahraman Yildiz tomorrow.

    Khelif on Sunday called for an end to the bullying of athletes amid the international backlash, saying the hateful scrutiny she has faced over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity.”

    Khelif’s father, Amar, told Reuters that he was proud of his daughter and backed her to win a medal for Algeria.

    The IOC has rejected the results of the IBA-ordered tests as arbitrary and illegitimate, saying there was no reason to conduct them.

    “I cannot tell you if they were credible or not credible [gender tests] because the source from which they came was not credible and the basis for the tests was not credible,” Adams said. “For that reason there was no consideration of whether they were correct or not correct because they had no bearing for the eligibility of boxing here.”

    At these Games, the IOC is using boxing eligibility rules that were applied at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, and those do not include gender testing.

    The Olympic body has been locked in a long-running dispute with the IBA from even before it stripped it of its recognition, with IBA president Umar Kremlev, a Russian, openly attacking IOC president Thomas Bach with a series of inflammatory social media posts in recent days.

    The IOC has urged national boxing federations to create a new global governing body or risk the sport missing out on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

  • IOC faults IBA gender tests on two Olympic  boxers 

    IOC faults IBA gender tests on two Olympic  boxers 

    The gender tests conducted by the International Boxing Association (IBA) on two female fighters at last year’s world championships that led to their disqualification were illegitimate and lacked credibility, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.

    Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting were cleared to compete at the Paris Olympics despite having been disqualified during the 2023 World Championships after the IBA said they had failed a gender eligibility test.

    The IOC said the testing process at that event, which only came towards the end of the competition after the boxers had already fought several bouts, was completely arbitrary.

    “Those tests are not legitimate tests. The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference.

    “The testing, the method of the testing, the idea of the testing which happened kind of overnight. None of it is legitimate and this does not deserve any response,” Adams said.

    The IOC last year stripped the IBA of its status as boxing’s governing body over governance and finance issues, taking charge of the Paris Games boxing competition and applying eligibility rules from the 2016 and the 2021 Olympics.

    Khelif’s dominance in Thursday’s round-of-16 welterweight fight against Angela Carini, who withdrew after 46 seconds following a barrage of punches from the Algerian, triggered a furore that swept social media.

    Read Also: Paris 2024: Meet the Ghanaian sisters leading Japan in Basketball

    The IBA on Friday promised to pay Italy’s Carini $50,000 in prize money, further fanning the ongoing dispute with the IOC.

    Both Khelif and Lin have now reached the semi-finals in their weight categories in Paris.

    “Yu-ting is great!” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said after she reached the semi-finals of her featherweight division at the Olympics.

    “In recent days, Taiwan’s people have been indignant at the slander against her. Facing the challenge, Yu-ting is fearless and uses her strength to crush the rumours. Let us continue to cheer for her!”

    IOC President Thomas Bach earlier this week accused the IBA of a defamation campaign against the Olympic body, with IBA President Umar Kremlev, a Russian, posting inflammatory comments on social media against Bach as well as the IOC about the decision to allow the pair to compete.

    The IOC has urged national boxing federations to create a new global governing body or risk the sport missing out on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

  • IOC boss visits Ukraine to give athletes support

    IOC boss visits Ukraine to give athletes support

    World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said he had visited Ukraine and met the country’s athletes to show them he “was in their corner” as the Paris Olympics approaches.

    Coe held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and attended the national athletics championships in Lviv at the weekend during the visit to Ukraine, which is fighting the Russian invasion for a third year.

    In a call with international media after returning, Coe said he had fulfilled a promise he had made to Ukrainian athletes that he would visit them in their beleaguered homeland.

     “I wanted them to know that I was in their corner. This wasn’t about politics and passports, it really wasn’t. It was about a commitment to go and see them and to let them know we think about them.

     “I understand a lot more than I did about the circumstances they confront every minute of the day and for that I’ll forever be grateful,” Coe said.

    Fewer than 30 Ukrainian track and field athletes will be going to the Paris Games from a team that three or four years ago would have numbered around 70, he said, underlining the “massive impact” that the war had had on sport in Ukraine.

    Coe said he had discussed with Zelensky mainly how to identity and fund the development of under-20 athletes in Ukraine.

    Read Also: Ibadan South Anglican Diocese to mark 25th anniversary

     “The biggest attritional period in our sport is 18 to 20” in any country, Coe said, even without the “complexities” of life in Ukraine.

    He said he had chatted to an athlete “who doesn’t have a coach at the moment because they’re on the frontline, or female athletes that are worrying about brothers or husbands”.

    World Athletics has imposed a blanket ban on Russian competitors from taking part in the track and field programme at the Paris Olympics because of the invasion of Ukraine, while other sports are allowing selected Russians to compete as neutrals providing they meet certain criteria.

    Coe said that decision “isn’t one individual view, it is the unanimous view of the 26-member Council”.

    World Athletics said in a statement Zelensky had thanked Coe for the ban on Russian athletes.

    Coe said he hoped circumstances might eventually allow Russians to return to international track and field, but added that “nothing I witnessed tells me that the decision we’ve taken is anything other than the right decision… on behalf of our sport.

    “I don’t make judgements about other sports…. as a democrat I have to accept some federations will be making decision that will stand behind that they also think are in the best interest of their sport and they’re different from ours.”

    This is the second year that World Athletics has funded Ukrainian athletes in a scheme aimed at keeping them in training and competition.

    The Italian, Turkish and Portuguese federations have provided training camps on their soil.

  • IOC berates Russia over Friendship Games

    IOC berates Russia over Friendship Games

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has  accused Russia of “politicising sport” by launching its so-called Friendship Games from next September.

    The new event will compete with the Olympic Games and Russian organisers are also planning a winter edition.

    The IOC, which has authorised the participation of Russian sportsmen and women in this year’s Olympics in Paris only under a neutral banner and on condition that they did not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, called on the sporting world and the governments invited by Moscow “to reject any participation in and support of” this event, it said in a statement.

    Announced several months ago, the first edition of the Summer Friendship Games is “planned to be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg” next September, the IOC said, with the first winter edition to take place in 2026 in Sochi, venue for the highly controversial 2014 Winter Olympics.

    These two initiatives are in addition to the recent Games of the Future in Kazan, which combined traditional disciplines and e-sport, and the BRICS Games which take place in the same city in June.

    Russian authorities claim that “athletes from more than 50 countries” will take part in the latter.

    The IOC is not criticising the Russians for creating multi-sport competitions outside its aegis since several already exist, including the Commonwealth Games and the Jeux de la Francophonie, but for doing so via a “very intensive diplomatic offensive” through direct contacts with governments around the world.

     “To make their purely political motivation even more obvious, they are deliberately circumventing the sports organisations in their target countries,” said the IOC statement. “This is a blatant violation of the Olympic Charter and an infringement of the various UN resolutions at the same time.

    Read Also: NEITI: Three tiers of government share N10.143tr in 2023

     “It is a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicise sport.”

    The IOC has also accused Moscow of “total disrespect for the global anti-doping standards and the integrity of competitions”, citing concerns made last week by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in light of the institutionalised doping at the Sochi Games 10 years ago.

     “This position is reinforced by the fact that Russia’s national anti-doping agency (RUSADA) is currently non-compliant with the code, there is currently no WADA-accredited laboratory in Russia and overall trust in the anti-doping system in Russia remains low,” the IOC said.

    The Ukrainian sports ministry issued a statement welcoming “the fair stance” of the IOC, but urging the Olympic body to now take a decisive step against Russian and Belarusian athletes.

     “We urge the exclusion of athletes holding Russian or Belarusian citizenship from participating in any international competitions, including the Olympic Games, in any status,” read the statement signed by Ukraine’s acting sports minister Matvii Bidnyi.

     “We consider it unacceptable for the Russian Federation to organise the so-called ‘Friendship Games’ and present this propagandistic event as an ‘alternative to the Olympics’. There is no alternative to the Olympic Games.”

  • IOC to re-award medals after Valieva’s ban

    IOC to re-award medals after Valieva’s ban

    A “dignified medal ceremony” will take place for athletes who missed out when Russian figure skaters took team gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

    Medals were not awarded after Russia’s Kamila Valieva failed a doping test, but the United States will now receive gold, Japan silver and Russia bronze.

    Valieva, 17 – and aged 15 at the time – received a four-year ban on Monday.

    “We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait,” the International Olympic Committee said.

    A Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling also expunged Valieva’s results from 25 December 2021 – the date of her failed test and also the start of her backdated ban.

    The sport’s governing body the International Skating Union (ISU) yesterday  relegated the Russian team to the bronze medal position after removing Valieva’s scores.

    The United States finished in the silver medal position and will now be awarded gold, with Japan elevated to silver.

    Read Also: Fed Govt seeks IOCs collaboration for Niger Delta development

    It had been anticipated that Canada would receive bronze following their fourth-place finish two years ago.

    However they finished one point behind the Russian team once Valieva’s points were removed.

    The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Skate Canada said they were “extremely disappointed” with the ISU’s decision.

    “Skate Canada strongly disagrees with the ISU’s position on this matter and will consider all options to appeal this decision,” the national governing body added.

    COC said it is in discussion with Skate Canada as it explores its options for appeal, adding: “We recognize how difficult this process is for all the athletes and give our support to the Canadian skaters who made us so proud. This is a reminder of how harmful doping is and how crucial it is that we have a fair and safe sport system at home and around the world.”

    An IOC spokesperson said: “The IOC welcomes the fact that the CAS ruling provides clarity in this case, and the athletes from the team figure skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 can finally get their medals, for which they have been waiting so long.

    “The IOC is now in a position to award the medals. We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition.”

    The IOC said it will contact the relevant nations’ Olympic Committees “in order to organise a dignified Olympic medal ceremony”.

    Of Valieva’s case, the IOC added: “[It is] further proof of the need to address the part played by the athletes’ entourage in doping cases. This is even more important if the athletes are minors, who are even more reliant on their entourage.”

  • IOCs get two weeks’ ultimatum to pay dockworkers

    The Federal Government has given International Oil Companies (IOCs) a two-week ultimatum to pay outstanding debts to dockworkers employed by stevedoring contractors appointed by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

    President-General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Comrade Adewale Adeyanju said the directive was issued at a meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Transportation with the IOCs and industry stakeholders in Abuja.

    He said: “A resolution has been reached on the issue of IOCs. From the meeting we held last week, the IOCs have been given two weeks, beginning from Wednesday when we had the meeting.

    “Since then, their level of compliance has reached 30 per cent. They have started allowing the stevedoring contractors to register with them and I believe within two weeks, something reasonable will come out of it.”

    Adeyanju said with the level of compliance of the IOCs, he was optimistic that the union’s demands to engage the services of NPA-appointed stevedores and registered dockworkers would be addressed. He warned            that the union would not fail to resume its suspended strike, should the IOCs renege on the ultimatum.

    He said: “We only suspended our strike, if anybody plays against the resolution that all of us have agreed upon with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, the person will be held responsible. But with the level of compliance, I think we are satisfied with what we have heard so far.”

    The MWUN president, who expressed delight that the meeting yielded a positive outcomes, praised the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, and the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, for their intervention and efforts in compelling the IOCs to accede to MWUN’s demands.

    “I think we have been able to get what we are bargaining for, that is, for the IOCs to recognise the stevedoring contractors and at the same time allow the dockworkers to work in the jetties,” Adeyanju said.

  • Kachikwu to IOCs: reduce oil production cost

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu yesterday urged International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the country to either produce oil at a reduced cost or allow the mineral deposit to remain in the ground.

    He noted that Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) would address the issue of cost in the country since Nigeria operates one of the highest costs of extraction among oil provinces in the world.

    Represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Engr. Johnson Awoyemi at the symposium on PIGB in Abuja, Kachikwu however insisted that “It is clear and clearer that we either produce the oil at a good cost, or we leave it in the ground.”

    Continuing, the minister said it is time to tweak existing industry laws and come up with a new legal, institutional, commercial framework that will liberalise the industry as well as create a competitive business environment that will enhance Nigeria’s revenue.

    He noted that North America is becoming more energy self-reliant, Europe has technology in alternative energy and China maintains a grip on the natural resources of the entire African flank, in addition to the search for oil and gas through fracturing at home front.

    According to him, Nigeria’s opportunity to benefit maximally from the petroleum industry is narrowing.

    He said: “It is clear that the shale play revolution is gradually changing the geopolitics of oil with ripple effects likely to linger on for years which could have a serious global implication if we don’t put our house in order.”

    The minister said policy in response to the situation should be to grow gas based industries and start looking inwards in capturing the Nigerian market rather than searching for foreign market.

    Kachikwu said domestic utilisation of gas resource will help the country grow its local manufacturing sector which will also have a multiplier effect on employment that has been a serious concern.

    “Numerous discoveries of petroleum in the East and sub-Saharan African region signify more incentives and new licenses are up for grabs for investors who would need a more stable business climate.

    “This is no good news for us, as increased supply base in the oil and gas in the international market making the market share getting tighter. But by the virtue of the size of the country’s assets we, will have a competitive edge once we begin to take advantage of our enormous gas resources and our new laws that are more competitive,” Kachikwu said.

    Speaking with reporters at the symposium, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Waziri Adio, said the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has cost Nigeria over $200billion in the last 10 years.

    The losses, he said, were either due to uncertainty, lack of clarity and lack of transparency but the country moves on as if it is the lone owner of oil whereas other countries have oil which is going out of fashion.

    He said: “The first thing is that we have incurred enormous cost in the last 10 years that we tried to pass this bill either because of uncertainty, lack of clarity, lack of transparency and all of that.  And the last time we checked this it was estimated at more than $200billion. That is a lot of money and we carried on as if to we are only ones with oil. Everybody has oil now. And oil is also running out of fashion.”

    Adio said since there is no time to waste any more, Nigeria should not wait until the bill is signed into law before thinking about the next steps to take.

    To him, the country should not wait until the law is perfect before looking forward since the lawmakers are there to amend it.

    Meanwhile, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) President Comrade Igwe Achise expressed fear over the silence of the bill on the global concern about “industry 0.4.”

    He urged the stakeholders to brainstorm about the short, medium and long term means of taking the oil and gas industry to the next level.

    He charged the National Assembly to look into other parts of the bills and pass them as quickly as possible to stimulate the Nigerian oil and gas industry into a booming sector.

  • IOC president to visit North Korea after Winter Games

    IOC president to visit North Korea after Winter Games

    International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) President Thomas Bach will visit North Korea after the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Reuters reported on Monday.

    The visit is part of an agreement between the IOC and both North Korea and South Korea, according to a source.

    The source said the trip would be “sometime after the Olympic Games’’, which are due to finish on Feb. 25, and did not comment on the agenda for the visit.

    North Korea agreed to participate in PyeongChang after Games’ host South Korea and the IOC encouraged the reclusive, heavily-sanctioned state to participate as a gesture of peace.

    Athletes from North and South Korea, technically still at war, marched together at the Games opening ceremony.

    Both countries have fielded a unified women’s ice hockey team, the first time an inter-Korean team has competed at any Olympic Games.

    South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been using the Games in his efforts to re-engage with the North and to pave the way for talks over the North’s weapons programme.

    The IOC and the two Koreas signed a tripartite agreement on Jan. 20 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

    It set out the details of North Korea’s Olympic participation, including the number of athletes, the sports they would take part in as well as their joint march.

    The agreement was seen as a breakthrough, given the Koreas had not marched together at an Olympics for more than 12 years.

    South Korean President Moon Jae-in hosted two of North Korea’s most senior officials at the Games opening ceremony, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister.

    Moon warmly shook hands with her and later held talks with her in Seoul.

    Kim Jong Un has invited Moon for talks in Pyongyang, South Korean officials said, setting the stage for the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than a decade.

    The thaw in relations has centred on the Olympics.

    It has led to a senior American member of the IOC calling for the joint ice hockey team to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

    The team had included 12 North Korean players.

  • IOC sanctions Russian athlete, closes case as part of Oswald Commission findings

    IOC sanctions Russian athlete, closes case as part of Oswald Commission findings

    The International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) has published one new decision from the Oswald Commission hearings, which are being conducted in the context of the Sochi 2014 forensic and analytic doping investigations.

    As a result, the Russian bobsledder Alexey VOEVODA, double gold medallist in Sochi 2014, has been sanctioned. The case opened against a second athlete has been closed without a sanction.
    More hearings concerning other athletes will be held over the next few weeks.

    To date, the number of cases opened by the Disciplinary Commission has reached 46 after additional findings from the re-analyses. Thirty-five of them have already been handled, of which three have been filed. As some investigations are still ongoing (notably the forensic analysis of the bottles), it cannot be excluded that there might be new elements that would justify opening further new cases.

    The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch and Mr Tony Estanguet, decided the following:

    Alexey VOEVODA is found to have committed anti-doping rule violations pursuant to Article 2 of The International Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, in 2014, and is disqualified from the events in which he participated.

    In addition, he is declared ineligible to be accredited in any capacity for all editions of the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter Games subsequent to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014.

    The Russian team is disqualified from the two-man bobsleigh and four-man bobsleigh events, and the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.

    The decision on Alexey VOEVODA is available here.

    The reasoning for these decisions will be communicated in due course.

    In addition to this decision, the IOC Disciplinary Commission has issued a third decision in which it found that the elements in the file and the conclusions of the investigations conducted so far were not sufficient to establish an anti-doping rule violation. Accordingly, the disciplinary proceedings opened against the athlete were terminated and the case filed. In order to protect the rights of the athlete, the identity of the athlete concerned will not be disclosed and the decision will not be published at this point in time.