Beijing, China | AFP | Kim Jong Un is committed to sending North Korean teams to the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics, IOC chief Thomas Bach said Saturday after a rare meeting with the leader of the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, also said …
Read More »Africa could host Olympics as soon as 2032 – IOC boss
Pyeongchang, South Korea | AFP | International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday that Africa could host the Olympics for the first time as early as 2032. It came after the IOC approved plans to target Africa to host the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in …
Read More »IOC ‘confident’ Tokyo 2020 venues will be ready on time
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Tokyo organisers are back on track and will complete their 2020 Olympic venues on schedule, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Monday at the start of a three-day visit. After bungling the rollout of the showpiece Olympic stadium two years ago, local organisers have come under …
Read More »Russia voices regret at Olympic ban, awaits Putin verdict
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia on Wednesday reacted with disappointment but no great surprise after the country was banned from the Winter Olympic Games, while President Vladimir Putin was yet to comment on a possible boycott. Russia was banned Tuesday from the 2018 Winter Games by the International Olympic Committee …
Read More »Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics over doping
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | Russia was banned Tuesday from the 2018 Winter Games by the International Olympic Committee over its state-orchestrated doping programme, but clean Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under an Olympic flag. The sanction was the toughest ever levelled by the IOC for drug cheating and …
Read More »Russia faces decision on Winter Olympics ban for doping
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | The International Olympic Committee meets from Tuesday to decide whether to bar Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping violations, in one of the weightiest decisions ever faced by the Olympic movement. The build-up to the high-stakes summit in Lausanne just 66 days before the …
Read More »Rio probe puts IOC back under Olympics corruption spotlight
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | The Rio 2016 cash-for-votes inquiry in Brazil has placed the International Olympic Committee under a fresh cloud of corruption less than a week before it is due to award the 2024 Games to Paris. Almost two decades after its image took a battering with the …
Read More »Keino to step down as Kenyan Olympic chief
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan Olympic chief Kipchoge Keino said Wednesday he will not stand for re-election during the General Assembly in Nairobi on September 29. The 77-year-old double Olympic gold medallist has been at the helm of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) since 1999 when he …
Read More »Olympics: Six medallists fail reanalysed Beijing tests
Paris, France | AFP | Six medallists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics were among nine competitors to fail drug tests as part of an International Olympic Committee campaign of retesting stored samples, it was announced Wednesday. The list of athletes to have their medals stripped includes three weightlifters — Ukraine’s …
Read More »‘Serious’ doubts over Russian, Kenyan athletes – IOC chief
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | Deficiencies in the anti-doping systems in Russia and Kenya have created doubts about the presumption of innocence for athletes from both countries, the Olympics chief said Tuesday. “Because of the (World Anti-Doping Agency) non-compliance declaration of Kenya and Russia and the related substantial allegations, the …
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