XXX Olympic Games 2012

The real XXX Olympic Games – sexy sports women

Saudi prince says female athletes OK at Olympics

March 24th, 2012

The female basketball team of Jeddah United warm up in Jordan on April 21, 2009. Jeddah United is the only private sports company with women’s teams. © 2009 Reuters

The female basketball team of Jeddah United warm up in Jordan on April 21, 2009. Jeddah United is the only private sports company with women’s teams. © 2009 Reuters

Prince Nayef ibn Abdulaziz has said women can represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics this summer as long as they don’t contradict Islamic laws, a sign of change after human rights activists campaigned against the exclusion of Saudi women from sports.

But Human Rights Watch, which has lobbied the International Olympic Committee to make sure Saudi Arabia includes women in athletics, says sending a few women to the Games doesn’t solve the problem.

“You cannot pull a token woman out of your hat to say everything is hunky-dory,” said Christoph Wilcke, the lead researcher behind a scathing Human Rights Watch report on female athletes in Saudi Arabia. “This is a good step — but we need to start a sporting culture for women in Saudi Arabia.”

His report last month laid out obstacles Saudi women face in playing sports. They include public schools not holding gym classes for girls and the government shuttering private gyms for women, allowing only “health clubs” that are too expensive for many women and offer fewer activities. The report argued that Saudi Arabian rules were incompatible with the Olympic charter banning discrimination.

Saudi Arabia is one of three countries that have never sent a woman to the Olympics. The IOC has been in talks with the country over including women, but has shied away from ultimatums or deadlines that would hitch Saudi involvement in the Games to changing its ways.

Media reports from Saudi Arabia have indicated that female athletes might be sent to the Summer Olympics in London to compete in riflery or horseback riding. Last week, the group was given a list of Saudi women who might participate, to be studied by the IOC to assess the readiness of the athletes.

A formal proposal is expected in May.

“The IOC is confident that Saudi Arabia is working to include women athletes and officials at the Olympic Games in London in accordance with the International Federations’ rules,” the group wrote in a statement on its website Monday.

In addition, a Saudi female sports commentator and amateur soccer coach, Reema Abdullah, will be one of the 8,000 people to carry the Olympic torch, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

With little access to athletics for girls in Saudi Arabia, it’s possible that Saudi women living elsewhere might be tapped to represent the country in the Games. One of the names that has been floated is Dalma Rushdi Malhas, who won a bronze medal in show jumping at the Youth Olympics two years ago but who grew up in Italy and lives mostly in France.

Wilcke noted that there was one sign of broader change: One article in the Saudi media quoted a lawmaker saying they were ready to implement physical education for girls “soon.”

“It’s a strong signal,” he said. “But there’s still no time line and we’ve heard these promises before.”

Being blocked from sports is just one of many barriers faced in Saudi Arabia, where women were only recently given the right to vote. Saudi women are still banned from driving and must get permission from a male guardian to work, study, travel or marry.

source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/03/saudi-arabia-women-athletes.html

Gymnasts suspected of being underage have hearing

December 23rd, 2009

A decision on whether two Chinese gymnasts were old enough to compete at the Sydney Olympics is expected in February after the athletes appeared before a disciplinary commission.
Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun, along with their parents and two Chinese gymnastics officials, met Saturday and Sunday with the International Gymnastics Federation’s disciplinary commission. Dong and Yang are suspected of being as young as 14 in Sydney, where China won the bronze medal and Yang also won a bronze on uneven bars.
Gymnasts must turn 16 during an Olympic year to be eligible to compete.
The three-person disciplinary commission will submit its opinion to the FIG’s executive committee at its Feb. 26 meeting. If the commission decides Dong and Yang were underage, it also could recommend sanctions.

Dong Fangxiao and Yang Yun

Chinese gymnasts Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, Sept. 19, 2000, after receiving the bronze medal in the women's gymnastic team finals © AP

Because the case involves the Olympics, however, it would be up to the International Olympic Committee to decide if China should lose any medals. The IOC has said previously it would take “necessary measures” if the FIG finds Dong and Yang were underage.
Questions about their ages arose during the FIG’s investigation into the eligibility of members of China’s team that won the gold medal at the Beijing Games. The 2008 gymnasts were eventually cleared, but the FIG said it wasn’t satisfied with “the explanations and evidence provided to date” for Dong and Yang.
Yang said in a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television that she was 14 in Sydney. Yang later told The Associated Press she had misspoken, but declined further comment.
Dong’s official birthdate is listed as Jan. 20, 1983, but the FIG said accreditation information for the Beijing Olympics, where Dong worked as a national technical official, listed her birthdate as Jan. 23, 1986.
That would have made Dong 14 in Sydney.
Dong’s blog also said she was born in the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which dated from Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986. Dong has not denied that, but she refused to answer any questions about her age when reached by the AP.

source: sports.yahoo.com/olympics

Female ski jumpers lose final bid to compete

December 23rd, 2009

Female ski jumpers set their sights on 2014 after losing their final bid to compete at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal of two lower-court rulings that said Canada’s Charter of Rights cannot dictate which sports are included in the Winter Games.
The women contend that Vancouver organizers are breaking the charter by hosting only men’s ski jumping.
American jumper Lindsay Van, who won the first women’s world championship in February in the Czech Republic, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the court’s action.
“I feel totally opposed to everything the Olympics stand for,” Van said. “They’re not fulfilling their charter.”
Van said she has spent years training alongside men who will compete in February.
“It’s definitely going to be hard to watch,” she said.
The lower courts ruled that the charter does not apply to the International Olympic Committee, which decides which sports and events are included in each games.
“We are very disappointed the Supreme Court of Canada does not view this as matter of national importance,” said Ross Clark, attorney for the female jumpers.
The Supreme Court, as is its custom, gave no reasons for its decision.
The IOC has said it hopes that women’s ski jumping will meet the requirements for inclusion at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Deedee Corradini, president of Women’s Ski Jumping USA, said the women will not give up in their fight to be in the Olympics.
“No qualified athlete should be denied the right to participate in the Olympics because of gender,” Corradini said. “We knew it was a long shot. This really has been a David versus Goliath story.”
Corradini said the group will continue to press the IOC to include women ski jumpers in the 2014 Olympics.
“Without this fight, I don’t think the women would have a chance at 2014,” Corradini said.
The women first launched a lawsuit against local organizers in May 2008, 18 months after the IOC decided against the inclusion of women’s ski jumping.
They dropped a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission when the federal government agreed to lobby the IOC. When that failed, they pursued a court case.
The women wanted the courts to force Vancouver organizers to either add a women’s event or cancel the men’s competition. Organizers said they could do neither.
The IOC voted not to include women’s ski jumping at the 2010 Winter Olympics because the sport didn’t meet the necessary criteria for inclusion. The IOC requires that a sport must have contested at least two world championships before it can become an Olympic event. There are also rules dictating how far in advance a sport can be added to the Olympic program.
The IOC has decided to include women’s ski jumping at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012 at Innsbruck, Austria, and will consider adding the event to the 2014 games.

source: sports.yahoo.com/olympics

Women Ski Jumpers Fight for Inclusion in Winter Olympics

November 13th, 2009

Fourteen women ski jumpers will appear in a British Colombia court today to continue their legal battle for the opportunity to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. After the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected the inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the 2010 games, the athletes brought the issue to court as a sex discrimination case, reports the Associated Press.

The athletes argue that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) is subject to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and therefore should not allow sex discrimination in the Olympic events it will host. The British Columbia Supreme Court ruled in July that while the exclusion of women’s ski jumping is discriminatory, only the IOC has the authority to determine which events are included, according to the Associated Press. The British Columbia Court of Appeals will hear the case again today and tomorrow. If the court rules in favor of the athletes, it could force VANOC to either hold a women’s ski jump competition or cancel the men’s event, reports CBC News.

The IOC says it will not stage a women’s ski jump event because there are not enough women competing at the highest levels of the sport, reports the Christian Science Monitor. However, men’s ski jumping also does not fully meet the IOC’s criteria for inclusion but was grandfathered into the 2010 games, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Members of the IOC also acknowledge that commercial appeal is a factor in what sports are chosen for the games.

VANOC argues that while they support the ski jumpers’ bid for inclusion, their hands are tied by the IOC. Cathy Priestner-Allinger, vice-president of sport and operation for VANOC, told CTV, “We will continue to do everything we can to help these athletes achieve their goal. We provided them with free access to the jumps at Whistler Olympic Park; we helped sponsor and stage several elite national and international competitions; we helped create programs to introduce more women to the sport; we welcomed one of these young ladies to participate in the Torch Relay on the first day of the relay,” referring to torchbearer Charlotte Mitchell, one of the athletes involved in the suit. American ski jumper Lindsey Van set a record for the 90-meter jump at Whistler Olympic Park when it opened last year, reports the CS Monitor.

Media Resources: Associated Press 11/11/09; CBC News 11/12/09; Christian Science Monitor 11/12/09; CTV 11/11/09

Women’s boxing gains Olympic spot

August 20th, 2009

Women boxers will have the chance to fight for gold at the 2012 Olympics.
International Olympic Committee chiefs voted on Thursday to lift the barrier to the last all-male summer sport.
Three women’s weight classes will be added to the Olympic programme for 2012 Games in London, with one of the 11 men’s classes dropped to make room.
“Women’s boxing has come on a tremendous amount in the last five years and it was time to include them,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Women will fight at flyweight (48-51kg), lightweight (56-60kg) and middleweight (69-75kg).
The IOC’s decision was described as “historic” by Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.

Woman Boxing

Woman Boxing

“It will be a landmark moment come London 2012 when for the first time every sport will have women participating in it,” she said.
“There are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to men but this is a step in the right direction.
“In this country women’s boxing has come on in leaps and bounds and is growing quickly at all levels.
“London 2012 will now create the first-ever generation of boxing heroines and hopefully inspire even more women to take up the sport.”
Women’s boxing came close to being included at the 2008 Beijing Games but the IOC ruled it would not offer added value to the Olympic programme.
Fears were that the sport was not competitive in enough countries, which could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches.
But participation has since boomed with 120 international federations having female boxers. There are now nearly 600 registered female boxers in England, up from 50 in 2005.
Amanda Coulson, a three-time ABA champion and long-time trail-blazer for British women’s amateur boxing, expects the whole sport to benefit from the IOC’s decision.
“It’s fantastic news, I’m over the moon,” she said. “Women’s boxing can only progress from here – participation numbers will go through the roof, especially after 2012.

IOC will not reinstate softball for the 2016 Olympic Games

August 19th, 2009

Softball will not be included in the programme for the 2016 Olympic Games as the 15 members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board decided Thursday at a meeting in Berlin. One of the seven sports in contention for the 2016 Games, softball was passed over in favor of golf and rugby as the list of possible additions was narrowed down to a final two candidates.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed by the IOC decision today as we were hoping for softball to be considered for inclusion in 2016,” said Ron Radigonda, the executive director of the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA)/USA Softball. “However, softball is still an international sport power as we have been. We have to continue to focus on the World Championships next July here in Oklahoma City and future international events. Despite today’s announcement, softball will continue and move on and work to be stronger than ever.”

Also eliminated from contention were baseball, karate, roller sports and squash.

In Copenhagen on October 9, at a meeting that will also decide the host of the 2016 Olympic Games between four candidate cities, golf and rugby are being put forward by the Executive Board for an entire vote of the IOC. Both sports must be approved by the majority of 107 IOC members in order to be added to the Olympic Programme starting with the 2016 Games.

2016 Summer Olympics – XXXI Olympiad

August 17th, 2009

The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, are a major international sports and cultural festival to be celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The host city of the Games will be announced at the 121st IOC Session (which will also be the 13th Olympic Congress) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held in the same city and organized by the same committee.
The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games was officially launched on 16 May 2007. The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each applicant city by 14 January 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on 4 June 2008: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo (which already hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics.) The IOC did not promote Doha to the Candidature phase, despite scoring higher than selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro due to their intent of hosting the Olympics in October, outside of the IOC’s sporting calendar. Prague and Baku also failed to make the cut.

Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco will head the 10 member Evaluation Commission, having also chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids. The commission will make on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They will issue a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members one month before elections; the final selection will be made by the 115 voting members of the IOC membership on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

There are many restrictions barring the bidding cities communicating with or influencing directly the 115 voting members. Cities can’t invite any IOC members to visit them and they can’t send them anything that can be construed as a gift. However, bidding cities invest large sums in their PR and media programmes in an attempt to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support, support from specialist sports media and general international media. Jon Tibbs, a consultant on the Tokyo bid, was recently quoted as saying “Ultimately, you are communicating with just 115 people and each one has influencers and pressure groups but you are still speaking to no more than about 1,500 people, perhaps 5,000 in the broadest sense. It is not just about getting ads out there but it is about a targeted and very carefully planned campaign.”

Based on the design which city would you pick?

2016 olympic games candidate

2016 olympic games candidate

Female ski jumpers renew call for Olympic inclusion

March 26th, 2009

Female ski jumpers continue to fight an uphill battle in their quest to compete in the Winter Olympic Games.
In an attempt to advance their cause, two elite jumpers — Katie Willis of Calgary and 2009 world champion Lindsey Van of Park City, Utah — appeared at a Wednesday media conference in Denver to urge International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge to meet with them.
“It was definitely frustrating,” Van said. “We didn’t get to meet with Rogge, but we got our idea across to the media that we want to meet and don’t really want to go ahead with a lawsuit, but that’s where we’re headed.”
Van and Willis are among 15 plaintiffs in a lawsuit that is to be heard April 20 in B.C. Supreme Court. The lawsuit was filed in May by female ski jumpers who maintain that they should be able to compete at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Male ski jumpers have been in the Olympics since the inaugural winter Games in 1924.
Rogge is in Denver for IOC executive board meetings, which began Wednesday and are to continue until Friday. The plaintiffs sent Rogge a registered letter last week, but he did not respond to their request for a meeting.
“That’s just how they work,” Van said. “The top guy in IOC is not going to make an appearance for some athletes that he doesn’t want to be in his Games, anyway.”
The International Ski Federation gave a resounding endorsement of female ski jumpers in 2006, voting 114-1 in favor of their inclusion in the 2010 Olympics. The IOC was not swayed, however, maintaining that ski jumping at the women’s level had not developed to the point where it was of Olympic caliber.
The lawsuit has been filed against the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee. The suit contends that the exclusion of women is discriminatory and in opposition to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The reason it’s not (filed against) the IOC is very simple: Nobody has any authority over the IOC,” Women’s Ski Jumping USA president Deedee Corradini said Wednesday. “They can do whatever they want, so we had to look for another way to get this done.
“As our lawyers took a look at what our options were, VANOC, we feel, is the right place.
Our belief is VANOC can control whether the women jump or not. If this goes our way, VANOC is just going to have to tell the IOC, ‘The women have to jump. You can’t break the laws of Canada and we are subject to those laws.’ ”
Vancouver organizing officials contend they should not be the defendant because the IOC dictates the composition of the Winter Olympics. The IOC has not budged.
“If you have three medals, with 80 athletes competing on a regular basis internationally, the percentage of medal winners is extremely high,” Rogge told reporters on Feb. 28, 2008. “In any other sport, you are speaking about hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions, of athletes at a very high level, competing for one single medal.
“We do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down. That is the bottom line.”
Corradini said there are close to 100 women from 18 countries competing at the elite level. A total of 166 women are registered as active jumpers with the International Ski Federation.
Since 1991 the IOC has demanded gender equity from any sport it adds.
However, ski jumping has been grandfathered, or “grandmothered” in this case. Ski jumping and Nordic combined (which includes ski jumping and cross-country skiing) are the only male-exclusive sports in the Winter Olympics.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Willis, 17. “We’re doing whatever we can. We’ve gone through all the steps. This is the last step so hopefully this will be the thing we want.”
The first women’s ski jumping world championship was held Feb. 20 in Liberec, Czech Republic, with Van winning the gold medal.
The IOC has said it is amenable to adding women’s ski jumping for the 2014 Winter Olympics, earmarked for Sochi, Russia, providing its criteria can be met. Van is not prepared to wait that long.
“I need to get out and move on with my life if this isn’t going to happen,” the 24-year-old Van said. “I’m not going to wait for a bunch of old guys to decide my future when I can take it into my own hands and move on from ski jumping if it doesn’t happen now.”
For 2010, the women are asking for one event to be held on the normal hill in Whistler, B.C. The men’s event includes competition on the normal hill and large hill, as well as a team event.
Corradini — a former mayor of Salt Lake City — cannot understand why the IOC members are not open to that request.
“They would be heroes,” she said. “Everybody would shine. The lawsuit goes away. Why don’t they do something so simple?”

source: vancouversun.com

Olympic Leaders Lash Out at U.S.O.C. Revenue Deal

March 26th, 2009

Pressure on the United States Olympic Committee to renegotiate its existing revenue-sharing agreement with the International Olympic Committee rose to another level when an angry group of Olympic leaders voted to terminate the contract and renegotiate a new one.
The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations passed a non-binding resolution on Tuesday to end the U.S.O.C.’s current open-ended contract that agreement gives the United States 20 percent of the I.O.C.’s global sponsorship revenue — the same amount as all the other Olympic committees, combined — and 12.75 percent of the television revenue.
“The greed of this organization is unlimited. Totally unlimited,” Hein Verbruggen, the former chief of the International Cycling Union and an honorary I.O.C. member, said to The Associated Press. “It infuriates everybody and especially me.”
The international federations are meeting this week in Denver at a gathering called Sportaccord. Verbruggen is its chairman.
“The way they treat us, there’s no respect, no respect at all,” Verbruggen said. “It’s infuriating. I have no other words.”
The U.S.O.C., however, has emphasized that the United States generates a big chunk of the I.O.C. revenues and that U.S.-based companies provide most of the sponsorship money. The United States television contract is also far more lucrative than in any other country. To televise last year’s Beijing Games, NBC paid about $894 million. The European Broadcasting Union paid about $443.5 million. Chinese television networks paid about $7 million.
“We’re looking for a long-term solution, and it’s probably not best to do it in an emotional or pressure environment,” Bob Ctvrtlik, the U.S.O.C.’s vice chairman for international relations, told The Associated Press. “It’s not easy. It is complicated. I think we need to do that in a nice, calm manner.”
The impassioned debate comes at a delicate time for the U.S.O.C., with the bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016 ramping up. The vote on which city will host those Games is scheduled for October.
An I.O.C. evaluation commission will visit Chicago in early April. It will also visit the other three cities vying for the Games, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Both sides in the revenue-sharing tiff deny that the Chicago bid would be affected by the revenue disagreement, which is not expected to be resolved this week.
Chicago 2016 chairman Pat Ryan said that the disagreement has nothing to do with the bid.
Even so, Verbruggen said: “I like the guys in Chicago. I really like Pat Ryan. I’d think they might be embarrassed with this whole thing.”

Female Ski Jumpers Ask to Meet With I.O.C. President
A group of international female ski jumpers have asked the I.O.C. president, Jacques Rogge, to meet with their representatives in Denver this week, in hopes of convincing the committee to allow female ski jumpers into the 2010 Games. In a 2006 decision, the I.O.C. barred women from participating in the sport at the Vancouver Olympics.
The athletes said that participation in their sport was growing quickly, outpacing several other Winter Games sports.
“We’re ready,” Lindsey Van, a world champion and American national team member, said in a statement. “Our sport has developed incredibly in the three years since that decision, and we would really appreciate the opportunity to tell our story to him personally.”
Fifteen female ski jumpers, including Van, have brought a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee, citing gender discrimination. A hearing is scheduled for April 20 in British Columbia Supreme Court.

source: nytimes.com

XXX Olympic Games 2012

The real XXX Olympic Games – sexy sports women