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.
Tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will go on sale to the general public on April 9, organisers said on Monday, as LA28 also moved to reassure fans over ticket security by naming a group of verified resale platforms that will begin operating in 2027.
A presale for residents in qualifying areas of Los Angeles and Oklahoma City will begin on April 2, with notification emails for selected buyers set to roll out from March 31 through April 4, LA28 said.
On April 7, the organising committee will notify remaining registrants whether they were selected for a purchase window in the first general sales round, known as Drop 1.
“This week marks the first opportunity for fans to claim a seat at the LA28 Olympic Games,” LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.
LA28’s ticketing programme will include 1 million tickets priced at $28, the lowest price point. Roughly 5% of the Olympic tickets will cost over $1,000, while more than 75% of all tickets, including finals, will be under $400 and nearly 50% of all tickets will be under $200.
“Tickets are comparable to and in many cases well under what we see for other professional sporting and major entertainment events in the U.S.,” Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28 Senior Vice President, Games Delivery Revenue, told reporters on a call.
RESALE PROGRAMME
Separately, LA28 said its verified multi-platform resale programme would open in 2027, with AXS and Eventim serving as the official secondary ticket marketplace and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets also designated as verified resale platforms.
The announcement comes as organisers prepare for the first ticket drop and seek to warn fans against buying from unauthorised sellers before the resale programme launches.
LA28 said primary tickets would only be sold through its official ticket service providers, AXS and Eventim. It added that any LA28 tickets offered for resale before 2027 should not be considered verified.
“While LA28’s resale platforms will not be launched until 2027, having a variety of platforms was critical to providing fans multiple points of access to verified tickets,” Hoover said.
LOCAL PRESALE
Fans who registered for the LA28 ticket draw and whose billing postal codes fall within qualifying counties were automatically entered into the local presale draw. Those selected will receive 48-hour purchase windows running from April 2 through April 6 and must use a payment method tied to a billing postal code in an eligible county to complete their purchase.
For both the local presale and Drop 1, selected buyers will have 48 hours to purchase tickets, while any tickets placed in a cart must be checked out within 30 minutes. Buyers may complete multiple transactions during their allotted window until they reach the ticket limit.
LA28 said tickets would be available across all Olympic sports, as well as for the opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Fans selected for time slots may buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, plus up to 12 tickets for the soccer tournament that will not count toward the general Olympic-event limit. Ceremony tickets will be capped at four per buyer and will count towards the 12-ticket maximum.
Registrants who are not assigned a time slot in either the local presale or Drop 1 will be automatically entered into future draws, LA28 said. Paralympic tickets are due to go on sale in 2027.
Ticket-inclusive hospitality packages from official provider On Location are also expected to go on sale in April. Visa will be the official payment method for purchases.
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Organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled the event’s official visual identity on Monday, a floral-themed design system meant to reflect the city’s landscape, neighbourhoods and cultural character.
The branding will appear across competition venues, fan areas, citywide installations, signage, digital platforms and broadcast presentations during the Games, LA28 said.
At the centre of the design is the “Superbloom,” a reference to the bursts of wildflowers that can blanket parts of Southern California after periods of rain.
LA28 said the concept was intended as a metaphor for the Games, with years of preparation culminating in a short, high-profile global event.
The core graphic is built around 13 individual blooms, which organizers said represent different elements of Los Angeles, from its entertainment culture to its neighbourhoods, people and native landscape.
The colour palette draws on the Bird of Paradise, the official flower of Los Angeles, and is grouped into four families – Poppy, Scarlet Flax, Bluebell and Sagebrush – to evoke the region’s terrain and vegetation.
Organizers said the typographic style was inspired by Los Angeles street signage, including strip mall and hand-painted storefront lettering, in an effort to give the identity a distinctly local feel.
LA28 said the design was developed to work across a wide range of settings, from nearly century-old venues to new facilities, while also accounting for broadcast requirements, digital formats and lighting conditions. The organising committee partnered with design studio Koto on the project.
The identity was unveiled more than two years before the Olympic opening ceremony in what organizers described as an unusually early rollout, allowing partners and stakeholders more time to incorporate the branding into their materials.
Los Angeles will host the Olympics for a third time in 2028, after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984. It will also host the Paralympics for the first time.
-Reuters
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Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said on Monday that registration for the first ticket draw will close on March 18, as the Games begin to take shape with the first baseball qualifiers confirmed and the soccer tournament schedule expanded.
More than five million fans from 197 countries and territories have registered at tickets.la28.org since January for a chance to buy tickets, LA28 said, underscoring strong early demand for the Summer Games, which are due to open on July 14, 2028.
Fans who register by the March 18 deadline will be eligible for a lottery to receive a purchase window for the first ticket release, scheduled for April 9-19.
There will also be a local presale running from April 2-6 for eligible residents in parts of Southern California and Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host softball and canoe slalom.
LA28 said selected applicants would be notified by email between March 31 and April 7. Fans picked for the first sale window will be able to buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, subject to availability, with a four-ticket cap for each of the opening and closing ceremonies.
BASEBALL RETURNS
The ticketing update comes as the first teams booked places in the Olympic baseball tournament through the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured qualification spots from the Americas, joining host United States in the six-team field.
Baseball, one of the sports added to the LA28 programme, will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Tokyo Games and will be played at Dodger Stadium from July 13-19. The remaining three places will be decided through international qualifying tournaments in 2027 and 2028.
LA28 also confirmed that the Olympic soccer tournament will begin on July 10, four days before the opening ceremony, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee Executive Board to extend the competition window.
Organisers said the longer schedule would give teams two additional rest days compared with previous Games.
Group-stage and quarter-final matches will be staged in seven U.S. cities – New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego and Pasadena – with the men’s and women’s gold medal matches to be played at the Rose Bowl.
LA28 said kickoff times and the full schedule would be released later this year.
-Reuters
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