Olympics
Olympic Broadcasting Services founder Romero dies of cancer at 81
Manolo Romero, who was pivotal to the growth of the Olympic Games globally by founding the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), has died at the age of 81 following a battle with cancer.
The Spaniard was first involved at the Olympics at Mexico City 1968, but started working towards the creation of the OBS when he was first in charge of the host broadcast operation at Los Angeles 1984.
He would keep this role for Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, and at Sydney 2000 would cover the Olympics and Paralympics, before the OBS was formed in 2003 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under his watch as chief executive.
The OBS then streamlined the host process, becoming a company that broadcasted the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics, Winter Paralympics and the Youth Olympics.
Romero would continue in his role, before retiring from the Games after London 2012.
Prior to his lengthy career as one of the most influential media personnel in the Olympic Movement, Romero started his career at Spanish broadcaster TVE.
He is also regarded as one of the pioneers of host broadcasting as a concept, first rolling this out at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain before extending this to the Olympics two years later in Los Angeles.
This year, Romero became the first European to be inducted into the United States-based Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
At the time of his entry, Romero said: “All of the Olympics have had something special, but the thing I am most proud of is seeing how OBS is today and how it’s still moving forward and is innovative.
“I am very proud of that.”
Several figureheads from the IOC paid tribute to him including chair of the OBS and IOC member Geraldo Werthein, who called him his “amigo” when making comment.
IOC vice-president and OBS Board member Juan Antonio Samaranch and NBC Olympics and Business President Gary Zenkel referred to him as a “trailblazer”, while European Broadcasting Union (EBU) leader Fernando Pardo called Romero “a genius”.
German broadcaster ARD/ZDF, Britain’s BBC, Canada’s CBC, The Netherlands’ NOS and France’s FTV paid their respects too.
Romero’s successor as chief executive, Yiannis Exarchos, called him “instrumental”.
“His mentorship and leadership were instrumental in my life and his wisdom and work ethic transcended our work together,” said Exarchos.
“The legacy of his guidance still resonates with me every single day of my professional life.
“Words can’t begin to express how much I will miss him.
“There was no greater champion of the Olympic Movement, nor anyone whose impact was greater on the world being able to come together and unite through the power of sport.”
Alongside his work with the OBS, Romero founded International Sports Broadcasting, a company that broadcasts major sporting events.
This is now run by his daughter, Úrsula Romero.
He is credited with popularising formats like high-definition television or stereo, globally.
Romero grew up in Seville and earned a degree from the University of Madrid, majoring in telecommunications engineering with a minor in economics.
While working at TVE, he became chair of an EBU working group on exchanging programmes internationally via satellite.
Through the organisation, he worked at the Mexico City Olympics, organising the transmissions for several major broadcasters around the world.
-insidethegames
Paris 2024 sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, beating the Games record previously set by London 2012, organisers said on Sunday.
Some 9.5 million tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2.5 million for the Paralympics, which end on Sunday.
In 2012, London organisers set the record for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold but only 8.2 million were sold for the Olympics.
-Reuters
The French capital will pay tribute to Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her boyfriend, by naming a sports facility in her honour, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.
The marathon runner, who competed in the Paris Games last month died on Thursday, four days after she was doused in petrol and ignited by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.
The 33-year-old, who finished 44th in her Olympic Games debut, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday’s attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.
“She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder,” Hidalgo told reporters.
“Paris will not forget her. We’ll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Cheptegei is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei’s death as a loss “to the entire region”.
“This is a critical moment— not just to mourn the loss of a remarkable Olympian, but to commit ourselves to creating a society that respects and protects the dignity of every individual,” Uganda’s Athletes commission Chair Ganzi Semu Mugula said on Friday.
-Reuters
Engineer’s descendants say French capital landmark ‘not intended as advertising platform’
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
The five rings – 29m (95ft) wide, 15m high and weighing 30 tonnes – were installed on the Eiffel Tower before the Paris Olympics opened on 26 July, and were expected to be taken down after the Paralympics’ closing ceremony on 8 September.
But Ms Hidalgo said she wanted to keep the interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red, symbolising the five continents.
She added that the current rings – each one measuring 9m in diameter – were too heavy and would be replaced by a lighter version at some point.
The Socialist mayor also claimed that “the French have fallen in love with Paris again” during the Games, and she wanted “this festive spirit to remain”.
Some Parisians as well as visitors to the French capital supported the mayor.
“The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful, the rings add colour. It’s very nice to see it like this,” a young woman, who identified herself as Solène, told the France Bleu website.
But Manon, a local resident, said this was “a really bad idea”.
“It’s a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics but now it’s over, we can move on, maybe we should remove them and return the Eiffel Tower to how it was before,” he told France Bleu.
Social media user Christophe Robin said Ms Hidalgo should have consulted Parisians before going ahead with her plan.
In a post on X, he reminded that the Eiffel Tower featured a Citroën advert in 1925-36.
The Eiffel Tower was built in1889 for the World’s Fair. The wrought-iron lattice tower was initially heavily criticised by Parisian artists and intellectuals – but is now seen by many as the symbol of the “City of Light”.
Ms Hidalgo, who has been running Paris since 2014, is known for her bold – and sometimes controversial – reforms.
Under her tenure, many city streets, including the banks of the river Seine, have been pedestrianised.
Last year, she won convincingly a city referendum to ban rental electric scooters. However, fewer than 8% of those eligible turned out to vote.
But both drivers’ groups and opposition figures attacked the scheme, saying the SUV classification was misleading as many family-size cars would be affected.
France’s Environment Minister Christophe Béchu said at the time that the surcharge amounted to “punitive environmentalism”.
And just before the Paris Olympics, Ms Hidalgo and other officials went into the Seine to prove the river was safe to swim.
-BBC
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