Governing Bodies
Why are the Olympics still happening? These numbers explain it
The Olympic Games have always been about numbers. After all, a motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius – faster, higher, stronger – doesn’t mean much without seconds, meters and pounds. How fast? How high? How strong?
For more than a year, though, a different set of numbers has come to dominate discussions about the Tokyo Games: rising coronavirus case counts, escalating risk factors, inadequate vaccination totals.
Despite those concerns, the games are almost certain to go forward this summer: The latest evidence was the announcement Monday that domestic spectators would be allowed to attend Olympic events at reduced capacities.
These numbers may help explain why – a month before the opening ceremony – the games are still a go.
US$15.4 billion (S$20.7 billion)
If Tokyo’s new national stadium stands empty on the night of the opening ceremony, that will be US$15.4 billion in investment mostly down the drain. The figure, a record even for famously oversized Olympic budgets, has swelled US$3 billion in the past year alone. The reputational damage to Japan, though, on top of the loss of money, would be incalculable.
“This was the branding exercise that was going to showcase the lifestyle superpower of the Earth,” said Jesper Koll, an investment adviser who has lived in Japan for more than three decades. “At the end of the day, it is not about whether the construction costs are recouped or not, but it is about whether the brand of the country gets a boost.”
Much of the upside that Tokyo hoteliers or restaurants could have expected from hosting the games has already evaporated, as organisers banned international spectators in March.
And even the Olympic visitors who will be allowed to enter Japan will not get to experience most of Tokyo’s charms because the rules restrict them to Olympic venues.
US$4 billion
That’s the potential amount of television rights income that the International Olympic Committee, which organises and runs the games, could have to refund if the Olympics are not held. The figure accounts for 73 per cent of the IOC’s revenue. Sponsorships related to the games account for hundreds of millions of dollars more, and a cancellation would mean those companies could come looking for rebates, too.
US$1.25 billion
The US broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympics are among the most valuable sports properties in the world, and the advertising revenue they produce regularly makes them among the most profitable, too.
In March 2020, NBC Universal, which holds the US broadcast rights to the games, announced it had sold US$1.25 billion in national advertising for the Tokyo Olympics. That exceeded the amount sold for the 2016 Rio Olympics, which had generated US$1.62 billion in total revenue for the company and US$250 million in profits.
And not even a year’s delay may hurt NBC’s bottom line. Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told an investor conference last week that, depending upon ratings, the Tokyo Olympics “could be our most profitable Olympics in the history of the company.”
US$549 million
The word “solidarity” comes up 406 times in the IOC’s latest annual report. The most significant reference is to the US$549 million it distributes in so-called solidarity and other payments to national Olympic committees large and small. (The IOC’s accounts do not provide a breakdown of who gets what).
To many Olympic committees, the IOC’s largesse – which pays for everything from administrative costs to training subsidies to youth development programs – is a vital financial lifeline.
In the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, for example, IOC funding represents around a quarter of the national Olympic committee’s US$600,000 annual income, according to Richard Peterkin, a former IOC member.
But larger countries count on the money, too. Earlier this year, the British Olympic Association raised the prospect of a financial meltdown in its annual report if this summer’s games were cancelled.
“Cancellation of the games later than May 2021,” its directors concluded recently, “would create a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
15,500
The postponement of the Olympics forced thousands of the athletes – about 11,100 for the Olympics and 4,400 for the Paralympics, together representing more than 200 countries – to put their lives on hold for a year. To recommit to another 12 months of training. To delay marriage plans and college enrolments and even plans to have children. So it is no surprise that, by and large, competitors worldwide are eager for the games to finally take place.
“My next chapter was supposed to be happening already,” said Delante Johnson, 22, a boxer from Cleveland who had aimed to turn professional in 2021. He decided to keep his amateur status for another year, in part, to fulfil a promise he had made to his former coach, Clint Martin, who died in 2015.
“He always told me I’d go to the Olympics,” Johnson said, “and I’m holding on to what he said.”
For Olympians who have arranged their entire lives to chase their dreams, the games are everything. They can open the door to sponsorship opportunities, to bonus money for medals, to post-competition careers. For many, they also offer the rare chance to perform in front of a global audience.
“We’re finally allowed to have that excitement, and I’m just giddy,” said Kaleigh Gilchrist, 29, a water polo player from Newport Beach, California. “We can finally showcase all the hard work we’ve put in.”
37 per cent
That’s the current favourability rating for Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, who may fear his political fortunes are now tied too closely to the games to cancel them. “Politically he’s dead in the water if he pulls the plug,” said Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian studies at Temple University in Tokyo.
With national elections looming in September, Kingston said, Suga may now see the Olympics as a potential lifeline.
For Suga and his government, staging a successful – and safe – Olympics would offer a huge political upside. The downside, of course, is the risk of a public health disaster that costs lives and pummels Japan’s economy. That would inflict damage far more serious than just harming Suga’s personal political reputation.
“This is the potential making of the Godzilla variant,” Kingston said. “Is that how Tokyo wants to be remembered?”
-New York Times
Governing Bodies
Zimbabwe sports minister among candidates for International Olympic Committee presidency
A total of seven candidates are running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee with the winner replacing outgoing president Thomas Bach at elections in March 2025 in ancient Olympia, Greece.
Kirsty Coventry:
Age: 41
Country: Zimbabwe
Entry into the IOC: 2013
An Olympic swimming champion and Zimbabwe’s most successful Olympian, Coventry is Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister. She is the only woman among the candidates and the only one from Africa.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein:
Age: 60
Country: Jordan
Entry into the IOC: 2010
Prince Feisal heads the Jordan Olympic Committee and has been an IOC executive board member since 2019. An Executive Board member of the Olympic Council of Asia, Prince Feisal has also held several posts at the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Sebastian Coe:
Age: 67
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2020
An Olympic track and field champion and head of World Athletics, Coe also led the organisation for the 2012 London Olympics. A former Conservative Member of Parliament, Coe is also involved in sports consultancy and is a former head of the British Olympic Association.
Johan Eliasch:
Age: 62
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2024
The wealthy Swedish-born entrepreneur with a variety of business interests has headed the international skiing federation since 2021. He only joined the IOC in July at its session in the Paris Olympics.
David Lappartient:
Age: 51
Country: France
Entry into the IOC: 2022
A rising figure in world sports administration. He heads the international cycling body, UCI, and is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Juan Antonio Samaranch:
Age: 64
Country: Spain
Entry into the IOC: 2001
The son of the late former IOC president, Samaranch has considerable IOC experience and influence in his six years as vice president and 23 as a member. He headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Morinari Watanabe:
Age: 65
Country: Japan
Entry into the IOC: 2018
Watanabe has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since. He is the first Japanese candidate to run for the IOC presidency.
Governing Bodies
World Athletics boss, Coe and multi-millionaire Eliasch among seven candidates for IOC presidency
World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year’s International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on Monday.
IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed current president Thomas Bach.
The 70-year-old German is stepping down next year after 12 years at the helm. The election will be held at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece in March 2025.
The candidates will all present their programmes, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.
The IOC, with 111 members currently, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multi-billion dollar industry linked to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.
Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3 billion for the years 2025-28 and $6.2 billion already in deals for 2029-2032.
The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years, if re-elected.
Coe, 67, only joined the IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over Coe’s ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the country’s doping scandal.
A former Olympic champion with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former Conservative Member of Parliament.
Coventry, 41, is the only woman running for president and the former Olympic swimming champion, who is Zimbabwe’s most decorated Olympian, could become not only the first female president but also the first from Africa.
MALE PRESIDENTS
All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
The 62-year-old Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman’s candidacy a surprise for some.
Prince Feisal, 60, is a member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organisation in 2010, while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as vice president, headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The IOC and Olympic movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership of Mr Bach,” said Samaranch in a statement.
“The IOC now needs a new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it through this period of upheaval.”
UCI chief Lappartient has been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in 2022.
The Frenchman also is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Japan’s Watanabe, 65, has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since, and is his country’s first ever candidate for the IOC presidency.
Under current rules members have to step down when they reach 70, the IOC’s age limit, unless they are given a four-year extension.
-Reuters
There is currently insinuations that proposed certain elements may have smuggled modifications to amend the Statutes of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when the body holds its General Assembly next month in Kinshasa, Congo next month.
The confederation will be having its 46th General Assembly on 10th October. It is at such gatherings that amendments are made to existing rules.
According to an article authored by Mansour Loum, the editor of Sports News Africa, some national football federations have denied being party to proposed amendments which were linked to them.
One of such is coming from the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation which has denied signing proposals being circulated relating to amendments to CAF Statutes.
It is claimed that a circular dated 8 September has been sent to CAF member associations. Signed by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, it is titled: “Proposals for amendments to the CAF statutes and regulations for the application of the statutes, as well as the rules of procedure of the CAF General Assembly, presented by the national associations.”
Seven member associations were quoted as sponsoring the amendments. They are: Botswana, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger.
But Equatorial Guinea has denied being party to the proposed amendment which seek to remove age barrier for candidates seeking to be CAF Presidents and also removing zonal considerations in election into FIFA Council.
The current Statute stipulates that a presidential candidate must not be older than 70 as at the date of election.
Most of the national federation members are already approaching that age. In the estimation of the author of the article, Mansour Loum, the current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, is 62 years old. With the age limit, he could, for example, only run for two more terms.
Continuing, Loum wrote that regarding the elections to the FIFA Council, each zone has a representative on the FIFA Council and candidates for these positions can only be elected by the presidents of the member associations of their group zone.
Thus, the presidents of French-speaking federations can only vote for a French-speaking representative, the English-speakers for the English-speaking group, and so on.
The distribution of seats on the FIFA Council is currently as follows:
Francophone Group – Two members
Anglophone Group – Two members
Arabophone/Lusophone/Hispanophone Group – Two members
One female member elected from among the female candidates, regardless of language groups
The modification of the grouping by zonal unions would mean that all presidents could vote for candidates outside their group, or that the candidates would also no longer be limited to a group.
Several candidates from the same group could be elected to the FIFA Council, while at the same time some groups could no longer be represented.
Equatorial Guinea disputes any request for modification. The football federation president, Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha has reportedly denied being party to the proposed amendments.
“I am writing to you to present the disagreement of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation with part of the content of the document sent to the CAF Executive Council on September 8, 2024 signed by you (…)
“In this document, there are amendments presented by the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation (…) By this letter, we confirm that the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has not submitted any amendments to the CAF administration for the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly to be held on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Kinshasa,” he denounces.
Enough to cast doubt on this document sent by the CAF secretary general and the objective targeted. Contacted, a federation president, whose body is not mentioned in the letter, is surprised by these two requests for amendments and wonders about their intentions.
The press release from the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has sown doubt and now he is questioning the originality of the attachments included in this document which is likely to be talked about between now and the CAF General Assembly.
– Mansour Loum
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