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Tag: Olympics

  • Brisbane edges closer to securing 2032 Olympic Games

    Brisbane edges closer to securing 2032 Olympic Games

    The Australian city of Brisbane has moved closer to securing the hosting rights for the 2032 Summer Games – a deal that could be sealed as early as July.

    Influential Australian Olympic chief John Coates said at the weekend that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was completing due diligence on the bid before it was presented to the body’s Executive Board.

    “The reality is this: For Brisbane and Queensland, the bell for the last lap has rung, we have final hurdles to clear before the tape is breasted,” Coates told the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC)’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday.

    Brisbane has been the beneficiary of new IOC rules on bidding for the Olympics aimed at reducing the once astronomical cost of the process for aspirant cities.

    After it was identified as a “preferred candidate” in February, the stakeholders in the bid, which will encompass the southeastern region of the state of Queensland, entered “targeted dialogue” with the IOC.

    “The IOC has parked the other cities,” Coates said after the AGM. “If we fell over, they would have an opportunity again.”

    Last month’s commitment from the Australian government to split the infrastructure costs 50-50 with local government allowed Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to forward the necessary financial guarantees to the IOC.

    After the due diligence phase, the next step towards Brisbane joining Melbourne (1956) and Sydney (2000) as Australia’s Olympic host cities will be a vote of the Executive Board, which next meets on Wednesday and again on June 8.

    As a vice-president, Coates sits on the Executive Board but will be recused from that vote, which will decide whether the decision to award the Games to Brisbane will be put to a full session of the IOC.

    A key figure in the successful bid for the Sydney Games, Coates’s first attempt to bring the sporting spectacular to Australia was as part of Brisbane’s 1992 bid, which was one of five which lost out to Barcelona in a 1986 vote.

    As a seasoned bid campaigner, Coates was cautious about predictions that Brisbane could be declared hosts on July 20 at the IOC session in Tokyo ahead of the delayed 2020 Olympics.

    “I won’t speculate on that because we’ve got to come through the due diligence. It has to go to the IOC Executive Board, and they’ll decide,” he added.

  • Olympics: MoC Founder hails Usoro, Ofili for qualifying

    Olympics: MoC Founder hails Usoro, Ofili for qualifying

    Bambo Akani, the founder of Making of Champions (MoCs), has commended the efforts of Ruth Usoro and Favour Ofili in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

    Akani, in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, said both athletes’ qualification was not a mere feat.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Usoro qualified for the Olympics in both the long jump and triple jump at Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lubbock, Texas in U.S.

    On the other hand, Ofili broke the African record in the women’s 200m indoor event at the SEC Indoor Championships, Fayetteville in the U.S.

    “They have increased the number of Nigeria’s qualified athletes in track and field to nine.

    “Last weekend was an explosive one for Nigeria in track and field as two of the country’s student-athletes based in the U.S qualified for the Olympics.

    “Ruth Usoro made history by becoming the first Nigerian athlete (male or female) to qualify for the Olympics in both the long jump and triple jump.

    “It was a feat she performed on two consecutive days while competing at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lubbock, Texas, having won both titles in 2020 before the track season was cut short,” Akani said.

    The MoC founder also commended the resilience of Usoro in competing in the women’s triple jump.

    “She was ranked number one in the NCAA, having achieved a national record (NR) of 14.28m in her season opener in January.

    “Her performances were indeed landmarks in Nigerian athletics history as no athlete has ever qualified for the Olympic Games in both the long jump and triple jump at the same time.

    “One Nigerian athlete that may have achieved this laudable feat is Charlton Ehizuelen, who was one of the best jumpers in the world, set for glory at the 1976 Olympics,” he said.

    NAN reports that the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed till 2021 following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The 2020 Olympic Games has now been scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8.

  • IOC confident of Tokyo 2020 success in spite of coronavirus

    IOC confident of Tokyo 2020 success in spite of coronavirus

    The President and Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave further strong backing on Tuesday to this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

    They did not talk of a postponement or move to postpone the Games due to the coronavirus outbreak.

    “We are preparing for a successful Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” IOC head Thomas Bach said at the start of a board meeting to discuss the situation.

    The 66-year-old German lawyer and former Olympic fencing champion has a firm grip on IOC decision-making and is known for sticking to his guns in adversity.

    Both Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers and the IOC have repeatedly stressed that the July 24 to Aug. 9 Games will go ahead as planned in spite of the outbreak.

    They have also pointed out that there is no plan B.

    “The IOC Executive Board today (Tuesday) expressed its full commitment to the success of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” the board later added in a statement.

    However, multiple sports events around the world have been cancelled during the epidemic, which has killed more than 3,000 people in China.

    It has spread to more than 60 countries, including Japan where infections are near 1,000 and 12 people have died.

    And, earlier on Tuesday, Japan’s Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto acknowledged that Tokyo’s contract would allow for a postponement until the end of the year.

    In spite of concerns over possible health risks to spectators and participants, the Olympics body is unwilling to publicly discuss any other option, such as cancellation or postponement.

    This is because it knows this will throw the Games into confusion.

    The IOC board said a joint task force had been created in mid-February.

    The task force has the IOC board, the Tokyo Games organisers, the city, the government, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    It is to help deal with the coronavirus ahead of the Olympics.

    “The IOC EB appreciates and supports the measures being taken, which constitute an important part of Tokyo’s plans to host safe and secure Games,” it added in the statement.

    Tokyo has pumped in more than 12 billion dollars to organise the event while billions more were spent on related projects.

    Tokyo Games organisers are due to deliver a report via video conference to the executive board on Wednesday when the Games will be discussed, before a news conference by Bach.

  • Olympics qualifiers: Toriola, Oshonaike on course to make history

    Olympics qualifiers: Toriola, Oshonaike on course to make history

    Segun Toriola and Olufunke Oshonaike are on course to make history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    Toriola, who holds the record as the first African to feature in seven Olympics, is hopeful of an eighth appearance.

    He is currently fighting for a slot at the ongoing African Singles and Mixed Doubles Olympics qualifiers in Tunisia.

    On the other hand, Oshonaike is aiming to become the first African female to feature in seven editions of the Games in the qualifiers which began on Thursday.

    In an interview with ittf.com, the 46-year-old Toriola spoke on his first-ever experience at the Games.

    “When I went to my first Olympic Games at Barcelona in 1992, I was a teenager and I did not really appreciate it then because I was young.

    “However, it is an experience I will not forget in a hurry because it allows you to meet top athletes in various sports across the world,” he said.

    The former African champion Oshonaike also told ittf.com that she hoped to inspire and motivate girls through her participation at the Olympics.

    “For me, I will be quitting but I want to use this my last experience to inspire and motivate young girls —- that you can achieve whatever you desire in life.

    “You are the only one that can limit yourself in life,” the 45-year-old said.

    Oshonaike is featuring in the women’s singles and is also pairing alongside Toriola in the mixed doubles at the qualifying event in Tunisia.

    Toriola, on the other hand, is not participating in the men’s singles.

    Meanwhile, three other Nigerians who are eyeing slots at this year’s Olympics event have secured straight set victories in their first two matches in Tunisia.

    World-ranked number 18 Quadri Aruna won his first game 4-0 (11-2 11-4 11-6 11-9) against Josiah Wander of Kenya in group one.

    The 2020 ITTF African Top 16 Cup finalist also defeated Christ Bienatik of Congo Brazzaville 4- 0 (11-9 11-1 11-7 11-9).

    In the same vein, Olajide Omotayo went past Ahmed Djamal of Djibouti 4-0 (11-4 11-6 11-6 11-9).

    He also won 4-0 (11-1 11-7 11-6 11-3) over Ghana’s Derek Abrefa in his second group two game.

    Same scintillating performance was also recorded in the women’s event as Oshonaike also claimed a 4-0 (11-9 11-4 11-5 11-1) victory over Marta Gulti of Ethiopia.

    She was also ahead of Algeria’s Katia Kessaci 4-0 (11-7 11-9 11-5 11-6).

    In group one, Cyntia Nzangani of the Democratic Republic of Congo lost 0-4 (6-11 3-11 3-11 5-11) to Nigeria’s Offiong Edem.

    Edem also saw off Mauritius’ Nandeshwaree Jalim 4-0 (14-12 11-3 11-6 11-1) in her second group game.

    The tournament which will earn the semi-finalists in both the male and female events and a mixed doubles position at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will end on Saturday.

  • 2020 Olympics: Taekwondo boss applauds Anyanacho for securing place

    2020 Olympics: Taekwondo boss applauds Anyanacho for securing place

    Stella Ebikefe, the Chairperson of Nigeria Police Taekwondo (NPT) has expressed delight with Elizabeth Anyanacho for becoming the second ever female Nigerian to secure a place in Taekwondo at the Olympics.

    Ebikefe made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

    The first ever female Nigerian to secure a place in Taekwondo at the Olympic was Princess Dudu at the Athens Games in 2004.

    Anyanacho, 20, qualified for the global multi-sport event by overcoming Gabonese and former African champion Urgence Mouega 12-5 in the -67kg class at the just-concluded Olympics Qualifier in Rabat, Morocco.

    Her compatriots Benjamin Okuomose, Chinazum Nwosu and Ifeoluwa Ajayi failed to clinch an Olympic ticket.

    Ebikefe said she was proud of Anyanacho for clinching a gold medal in the just-concluded African Qualifications for Tokyo 2020 held in Rabat.

    “A big congratulation to Anyanacho, second ever female taekwondo Olympian for representing us well in the tournament. It was a good outing for Nigeria because we have qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

    “In fact I am very happy and impressed with Anyanacho’s performance. It is a great achievement to us as women, taekwondo family and our great nation, Nigeria.

    “To me, she has distinguished herself, having broken a 16-year jinx of Nigerian female Taekwondoists not able to qualify for the Olympics since 2004. It’s a wonderful performance, kudos Anyanacho,” she said.

    Ebikefe, a Chief Superintendent of Police, described the nation’s qualifications for the summer Olympics as a milestone achievement, saying it showed that the country’s taekwondo was coming up.

    She also commended other athletes in the team, saying that they all performed creditably as their individual performances placed Nigeria fourth among the 10 countries that qualified for the games in Rabat.

    “This achievement is something we have been longing for in every Olympic year after 2004 and thank God for a dream come through. Nigeria taekwondo has proved that it’s a sport to reckon with.

    “Nigeria won gold and two bronze medal tickets out of the four athletes in the team that represented us in the tournament. They all did well,’’ she said.

    She advised Anyanacho who is also the current national taekwondo champion and 2019 African Games medallist to remain focused in her quest to make the nation proud in Tokyo.

    “The taekwondo star who is presently a 300-level student of Statistics at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, needs all the encouragement, prayers and support from all,’’ Ebikefe said.

    NAN reports that Chinazum Nwosu, Benjamin Okuomose, Elizabeth Anyanacho and Ifeoluwa Ajayi made team Nigeria for the African Qualifications held from Feb. 21 to Feb. 23 in Rabat, Morocco in which 63 countries participated.

  • Hackers take over Olympics, Committee Twitter accounts

    Hackers take over Olympics, Committee Twitter accounts

    Twitter said on Saturday that an official Twitter account of the Olympics and the media Twitter account of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been hacked and temporarily locked.

    The accounts were hacked through a third-party platform, a spokesperson for the social media platform said in an emailed statement, without giving further details.

    “As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we locked the compromised accounts and are working closely with our partners to restore them,” the Twitter spokesperson said.

    A spokesperson for the IOC separately said that the IOC was investigating the potential breach.

    Last month, the official Twitter accounts of several U.S. National Football League (NFL) teams, including the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, were affected.

    They were hacked a few days ahead of the Super Bowl.

    Earlier this month, some of Facebook’s official Twitter accounts were briefly compromised.

  • Super Falcons out of Tokyo 2020 Olympics

    Super Falcons out of Tokyo 2020 Olympics

    The Nigeria national women team, Super Falcons, are out of contention to play in the women’s football event at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

    The Christopher Danjuma-tutored side played out a disappointing 1-1 draw against their Ivorian counterparts on Monday in their African qualifying second round second leg tie at the Agege Stadium, Lagos.

    Having played a barren draw in the first leg in Abidjan against Les Femelles Elephantes of Cote d’Ivoire, the Nigerian women have been edged out via the away goals rule.

    This the third successive edition of the Olympic Games that the Super Falcons will be failing to qualify for having also missed out on the London 2012 and Rio Olympics in 2016.

    In Monday’s tie, Christopher Danjuma made three changes to the side that started at Parc des Sports, Treichville, with Gift Monday, Rasheedat Ajibade and Ngozi Ebere earning starting places.

    However, it was the visitors that scored first as Kapho Nina gave Cote d’Ivoire the lead in the 12th minute.

    While the Super Falcons expectedly mounted the pressure to get an equalizer, they almost conceded a second goal in the 32nd minute as Ange N’Guessan came close to doubling the lead for the Ivorians.

    However, two minutes later, captain Asisat Oshola did get the much sought after equalizer for Nigeria when she raced again through the defence of the Ivorians before firing past the goalkeeper to level for the Super Falcons.

    With the first half ending 1-1, the Super Falcons had all the work to do in the second half but despite piling the pressure on the visitors they could not convert the chances they created.

  • Former Rio de Janeiro governor tells judge he paid $2 million bribe to host 2016 Olympics

    June 5, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) The former governor of Rio de Janeiro State said in court testimony on Thursday that he paid $2 million to buy votes to ensure the city would be chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
    Sergio Cabral told a judge the money went to Lamine Diack, the former President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was used to buy as many as nine votes.
    It was not immediately possible to reach Diack or his legal team on Thursday night.
    The head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the main organizer of the bid, Arthur Nuzman, introduced a representative of Rio 2016 to Diack.
    Diack then asked Nuzman to make the payments ahead of the 2009 vote that saw Rio win out over Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo, Cabral told a federal judge.
    “Nuzman came to me and said, Sergio, I want tell you about the president of the International Athletics Federation, IAAF, Lamine Diack, he’s someone who is open to taking bribes,” Cabral said.
    Prosecutors in Brazil charged Nuzman in October 2017 with paying the $2 million in bribes to secure Rio as the 2016 Olympics host city. That trial is ongoing. He has said he is innocent and his lawyers repeated that on Thursday.
    Diack was also charged by Brazilian prosecutors. He said at the time he was innocent.
    Last month, Diack was also indicted in a French court on charges he and his son Papa Massata were involved in a series of illicit practices over a number of years.
    Those practices were said to include bribe-taking and money-laundering, with the active involvement of international athletes and their federations.
    Cabral told Judge Marcelo Bretas that Nuzman assured him the scheme would work because Diack had a history of such practices.
    “I said, Nuzman, what are our guarantees here? And he said, ‘traditionally he sells 4, 5, 6 votes. There is a risk that we don’t get through to the second round (of voting).”
    Cabral said Diack guaranteed up to six votes for $1.5 million and then came back and offered more if he was paid an extra $500,000. Cabral said he authorised the payment.
    “We did it,” Cabral said.
    The former governor, who has been sentenced to almost 200 years in jail for his part in a series of corruption scandals, named several top athletes in his testimony.
    Cabral also said that Brazil’s imprisoned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the former mayor of the city, Eduardo Paes, did not participate in the scheme.
    But, accroding to him, they were informed about it after the fact.
    Cabral made the revelations at a hearing requested by his new defense team.
    The strategy of revealing admissions was made as part of his plea bargain in hopes it might lead to a reduction in the sentences facing both him and his wife Adriana Ancelmo, who was also jailed for corruption.

  • Ogbemudia stadium: Edo Govt. expresses satisfaction over ongoing reconstruction

    Edo Government has expressed satisfaction on the level of work done on the reconstruction of Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin with optimism that it would be completed on schedule.

    The Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, stated this on Monday shortly after inspecting the stadium.

    He said that the target of the state government for the stadium was for it to have a world class status, FIFA and Olympic standards.

    Shaibu explained that the target of the administration for sports development was also to upgrade all sporting infrastructure in order to attract private sector participation and improve the economy of the state.

    In his remarks, Abel Olanrewaju, the Engineer supervising the work, said Peculiar Ultimate Consult, the company handling the project would complete the job by January 2019.

    Olanrewajualso promised that the company would deliver a 15,000 capacity stadium with natural football pitch, standard drains and expanded 8-track lane with 50 years warranty to meet Olympic standard.

     

  • Abuja joins race to host 2022 youth Olympics

    Nigeria has presented Abuja as one of three Afrian cities interested in hosting the 2022 Summer Youth Olympics Games (YOG).

    Tunisia and Senegal are the two other African countries in contention.

    The Nigerian capital was presented at the Sport Accord Summit on Monday in Bangkok.

    International Olympic Committee (IOC) members voted in favour of a proposal to “proactively” seek an African host of the event at their Session in Pyeongchang in February.

    IOC President Thomas Bach said afterwards that he hoped the event could pave the way towards a Summer Olympic Games in Africa in either 2032 or 2036.

    “We had three working sessions, which were video conferences, with [Tunis in] Tunisia, with Senegal and with Abuja in Nigeria,” Christophe Dubi, the IOC executive director for the Olympic Games, told insidethegames during the ongoing SportAccord Summit.