Olympics
IOC BOSS THRILLED ABOUT JOINT KOREA BID FOR 2032 OLYMPICS
Officials from North and South Korea have presented their idea of hosting a joint Olympic Games in 2032 to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Billed as a “historic initiative” by IOC President Thomas Bach, the proposed bid comes amid the softening of tensions between the two countries following last year’s Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The meeting with the IOC at its headquarters in Lausanne was aimed at submitting a letter of intent to bid for the Games, as well as discussing the organisation’s support for further initiatives, including joint teams for Tokyo 2020.
The IOC have welcome the proposed joint bid and claimed they would be prepared to assist the two Koreas to further develop this project, despite the candidature process having been yet to begin.
This would potentially include offering the IOC’s expertise and visit from a joint working group to explore possibilities.
The IOC revealed they hope that ongoing political talks between the two countries, which are still technically at war having only signed an armistice at the end of the Korean War in 1953, will produce an outcome that could lead to a successful candidature and organisation of the Games.
“The discussions at the working meeting today are one further step showing how sport can once more make a contribution to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world,” Bach said.
“We have a good foundation to build on and make further progress ahead of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
“Sport will continue to build bridges and demonstrate the unifying power of the Olympic Games.
“Therefore, we warmly welcome the historic initiative of the two Koreas to put forward a joint Korean candidature for the Olympic Games 2032.”
The meeting with chaired by Bach, with North Korean Olympic Committee President and Minister of Physical Culture and Sport, Kim Il-guk, heading their delegation.
“The leaders of the two Koreas agreed that they intended to host the Olympic Games in 2032,” Kim said.
“I am very moved and excited by the prospect of bidding together with South Korea.
“We agree with the concepts put forward by South Korea, and ask for the support of President Bach and the IOC to jointly host the Olympic Games in Seoul and Pyongyang.”
Do Jong-hwan, South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism, led their delegation with their National Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung.
“South Korea greatly hopes to jointly host the Olympic Games 2032 with North Korea, and will work to successfully bid for the Games together,” said Do.
“Moving forward from our successful collaboration for the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018, we will continue to work closely with North Korea for a successful candidature to host the Games in Seoul and Pyongyang.”
Should the joint Korean bid come to fruition, the two nations could go up against Australia, India, Indonesia and Germany.
These nations have expressed early interest in hosting the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.
The working meeting also saw discussions over the prospect of unified Korean teams in sports at Tokyo 2020 based on successful qualification.
The IOC announced they had agreed to continue studying with International Federations of the prospect of unified Korean teams taking part in the qualification process for women’s basketball and hockey.
Qualification for the judo mixed team event, as well as the men’s and women’s four, quadruple sculls and eights events in rowing will also be assessed.
Unified Korean teams competed at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in August and September, in dragon boat racing, lightweight rowing and women’s basketball.
The unified Korean dragon boat team made history as they claimed gold in the women’s 500 metres race.
Unified teams have also featured at judo and table tennis competitions, while a joint team also featured at the men’s World Handball Championships last month.
The IOC revealed discussions will be based on established Olympic qualification systems, while they will consider further requests in other sports should they be made in time for qualifying competitions.
Tokyo 2020 have acknowledged the IOC announcement and stated they will continue to work with all parties to ensure athletes qualify in a “fair manner”.
“Tokyo 2020 is aware of today’s announcement by the IOC regarding the fielding of a combined North and South Korean team at the Tokyo 2020 Games,” Tokyo 2020 stated.
“It is the IOC which invites the participation of the NOCs and athletes of all countries and regions in the Olympic Games.
“Having worked closely with all related parties, Tokyo 2020 hopes that athletes from all countries and regions will be able to participate in a fair manner.”
The IOC promised athletes in the unified Korean teams will be subject to the same anti-doping testing programme as all other athletes before Tokyo 2020.
This followed the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) decision to declare Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Anti-Doping Committee (DPRK ADC) non-compliant.
The DPRK ADC had not met a four-month deadline to “correct non-conformities”, which triggered automatic non-compliance.
The potential exclusion of athletes from the Olympic Games and barring North Korea from hosting any major international events were among the sanctions available to WADA due to the declaration of non-compliance.
But the Compliance Review Committee recommended neither consequence was appropriate or proportionate in this case.
The IOC claimed they will explore the possibility with WADA and other parties of providing additional support to the North Korea Olympic Committee to strengthen the fight against doping.
The organisation revealed they were advised by the two Korean NOCs and WADA that there is already an agreement in place with the China Anti-Doping Agency to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
Further discussions on the results of the meeting are expected to continue, with the IOC declaring any results with require the approval of their Executive Board at their next meeting from March 26 to 28 in Lausanne.
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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