IOC: French must stop showing "arrogance" if Paris bid for 2024 Olympics is not to fail again, warns Killy

PAPA DON'T PREACH ...

Source: http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2024/1016572-french-must-stop-showing-arrogance-if-paris-bid-for-2024-olympics-is-not-to-fail-again-warns-killy

By Duncan Mackay

October 20 - If Paris bids for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics then they need to show "humility, of listening and of perseverance", instead of being arrogant, they have been warned by Jean-Claude Killy. 

Killy is France's most senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and claimed that the country needs a fresh approach if it is to finally succeed after five consecutive unsuccessful bids.

Three of these have come from Paris.

They were for 1992 which were awarded to Barcelona, 2008 to Beijing and 2012 to London when the French capital was the overwhelming favourite only to be beaten in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic bidding history.

This was then followed by a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics from Annecy, when they polled only seven votes as the Games were awarded to South Korea's Pyeongchang, the second lowest total in recent history.

Lille had also bid for the 2004 Olympics but were not even chosen as a candidate city for a Games awarded to Athens. 

The last successful French Olympic bid came from Albertville, who were awarded the 1992 Winter Games.

A bid from Paris for 2024 is widely expected, especially as it would mark the centenary of the 1924 Games which were held there and immortalised in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. 

Paris lost its bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics to rivals London, despite being the favourite for most of the campaign

But Killy, a former skier who won three gold medals at Grenoble in 1968, has cautioned that Paris needs to adopt a new attitude if it is to come out in front of what is expected to be the most competitive bid campaign since 2012 which also featured Madrid, Moscow and New York.

"We must stop putting ourselves forward as something we're not," Killy told French newspaperJournal du Dimanche in an interview published today. .

"We can't turn up once every ten years and tell the whole world what the Olympic Movement is about, that shows arrogance, and then go and repeat that ten years later."

Killy, who gave his lukewarm support to Annecy's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, gave Paris a word of advice should they emerge as 2024 host city candidates.

"They should create a Team France obviously backed by the Mayor [of Paris]," said Killy, who is currently head of the IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014. 

"It also helps to pay attention to the competition. 

"The Americans will be hard to beat.

"France should adopt a position of humility, of listening and of perseverance."

Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924 but Jean-Claude Killy warned that they will not be awarded the 2024 Games out of sentiment

If Paris pinned its hopes of being awarded the Games because it is the centenary of 1924, then it is doomed to fail, Killy warned.

"Never [should they adopt this strategy], looking at its scope and responsibilities a romantic IOC no longer exists," he said.

But, even if Paris does bid, then Killy does not wish to be part of its campaign.

"Out of the question, or only a helping hand," he said.

Contact the writer of this story at duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz

IOC President Bach meets Hollande to discuss potential Paris 2024 Olympic bid

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Source: http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2024/1017225-ioc-president-bach-meets-hollande-to-discuss-potential-paris-2024-olympic-bid

By Emily Goddard

November 30 - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach today met French President François Hollande to discuss a potential bid from Paris for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympics.

The pair, along with French IOC members Guy Drut and Tony Estanguet and IOC director general Christophe De Kepper, met in the French capital to also talk about the expectations for French athletes at the upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, France's commitment to the fight against doping and illegal betting in sport and general sports development in the country.

On the eve of the meeting, Bach - who is in the city to attend the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Centennial Gala Dinner - spoke favourably about a bid from Paris to host either the 2024 or 2028 Games, and suggested that France should not be cautious about bidding again after five consecutive unsuccessful attempts.

France last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1924, meaning that 2024 will mark the centenary of those Games ©Getty Images
"The enthusiasm of the French people for sport is obvious...it would be a very, very strong candidate," he told France 3 television.

"It's a sports competition, you can't wait until you're the only bidder.

"That's never going to happen.

"A bid can contribute to development, not only sports development but also social development in a country and in a city.

"You have to go for it, to be united, to fight for it."

Although the last successful French Olympic bid came from Albertville, which was awarded the 1992 Winter Games, the country last hosted the Summer Olympics in 1924, meaning that 2024 will mark the centenary of those Games.

While in France, Bach yesterday met with Abdou Diouf, secretary general of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, to discuss a potential cooperation for next year's International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, being jointly organised by the IOC and the United Nations.

Contact the writer of this story at emily.goddard@insidethegames.biz


Related storiesOctober 2013: David Owen - Why the Olympic Movement needs a Paris 2024 bid
October 2013: French must stop showing "arrogance" if Paris bid for 2024 Olympics is not to fail again, warns Killy
November 2012: Exclusive - Many factors will decide if Paris bid for 2024 Olympics says French Olympic Committee President
February 2011: France will keep bidding for the Olympics even if Annecy loses promises Sports Minister

FIAS sambo: Rossiyskaya Gazeta: The ROC will promote Sambo into the Olympic Programme

http://www.sambo-fias.org/en/news/2013/9/25/%C2%ABRossijskaya_gazeta%C2%BB%3A_OKR_budet_prodvigat_sambo_v_olimpijskuyu_programmu

After wrestling was again included into the Olympic Programme, Russia’s representatives in the IOC decided to propose making Sambo an Olympic kind of sports. That was announced to mass media on Thursday by Alexander Zhukov, the Russian Olympic Committee President, a member of IOC.

- The ROC is ready to facilitate in including Sambo into the Olympic Programme. First of all, we’ll put things right in our Sambo Federation. Then we will start preparing a respective application, said Zhukov. Any kind of sports has specific requirements, that’s why all documents should be prepared correctly for such inclusion. The main thing is that we are eager to promote Sambo.

Today at one of the first press conferences after his appointment to the position of the IOC member, Alexander Zhukov told about his thoughts of the appointment:

- I am sure this is as a great step forward for our country. Only three representatives of Russia were among 150 IOC members in the past. Above all things it gives an opportunity to influence the decisions made by the Committee in a greater way. This fact is undoubtedly significant for us.

We also discussed Sochi’s readiness to host the forthcoming Olympic Games. According to the ROC President, coastal and mountain sports clusters are ready to host sportsmen. Besides, all sports objects have been already tested. At present time specialists are putting the finishing touches. They do planting and the territory improvement. The city transport infrastructure and hotels have not been prepared in full, as well as the territory of the resort city has not been all over improved. But, in Zhukov’s opinion, these things are not so important because a lot of work has already been done.

- Moreover I would like to emphasize the barrier-free environment in Sochi. No city or town in Russia has such infrastructure as Sochi does, said Alexander Zhukov. – Now all sports facilities being under construction, especially those intended for international competitions, will take Olympic Sochi’s experience into account. Besides, it’s good that all these objects will function in the resort city after finishing of the Olympic Games.

The ROC President expressed his opinion on the Russian International Olympic University, which was opened in Sochi not long ago.

- You can not even imagine the extent of demand for this higher educational institution in the world. Unfortunately, there are few professional sports managers nowadays. But this university will prepare such specialists. Besides, skilled professionals will teach there. Many students want to study in this university and that’s a great benefit.

Text: Olga Bondarenko, 
Rossiyskaya Gazeta

WAKO: World combat games 2013 - another change of ambasador of WAKO kickboxing

Not anymore Bill Superfoot "Wallace". But an old friend of Branko Cikatic - IFMA - Muay thai  - from Split (his rival in a recent match 2013) - Don Wilson. the Dragon

Now ladies and gentlemen - we present you IFMA and WAKO cooperator in a sport shoes like savate - french boxing - the ambasador of ambasadors presenting al three sports:
savate, muay thai and kickboxing.

Legend of all legends.

Proud to post this post.

WOMAU: Martial arts exchange seminar - Korea 2013

Like every year.

IOC: AIBA president not successful for an IOC president

http://www.sambo-fias.org/en/news/2013/9/10/Novyj_prezident_MOK_i_olimpijskie_perspektivy_SAMBO

All about serious candidates for an IOC new president ...
And unified boxing will be serious option to an existing professional boxing organisations...

None of the candidates won more than a half of votes on the first ballot, so the second ballot was scheduled, in which Wu Ching-Kuo, President of the International Amateur Boxing Association, did not took part, because he dropped out according to the results of the first ballot. After the second ballot Rogge announced that the IOC members elected the new President of the Committee – German Thomas Bach.

BOXING: Am I the only person unhappy about women boxing?

ONE YEAR BEFORE...

Catholic Herald
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/08/27/am-i-the-last-person-opposed-to-women-boxing/

Sports like wrestling and boxing are training women to be as aggressive as men

By Francis Phillips on Monday, 27 August 2012

I know this question is the most politically incorrect one could raise in these exultant, post-Olympic days and that I’ll be met with shouts of derision or sheer disbelief, but I’ll ask it anyway: should women engage in the sport of boxing? When I saw the photographs of Olympians Katie Taylor and Nicola Adams fighting in the ring I felt aghast – and I still feel that way. It might seem a victory in the on-going feminist struggle for women’s complete equality with men, but it strikes me as a hollow victory; a blow against the nature of womankind; indeed, a step backwards for civilisation.

I had better state here that I have absolutely nothing against the two young women who won their boxing gold medals. I understand that Katie Taylor, aged 26, who won Ireland’s first gold medal as a lightweight, and who already has won four world and five European titles, is an evangelical Christian who regularly attends a Pentecostal church and who prays before her fights. In almost any other sport she would make an excellent role model. She is now wondering whether to turn professional. Nicola Adams, aged 29 and from Leeds, a flyweight, who has struggled for years to get sponsorship, sounds equally talented, dedicated, modest and charming. She has commented that “It’s great to think girls might take up the sport because of me. It’s a great sport and it’s an honour that people are looking up to me in that way.”

Scouring the newspapers for a smidgeon of support for my own position, I have not been able to find one dissenting voice in the accolades Katie and Nicola have been receiving. Jonathan McEvoy in The Mail On-Line enthuses, “You have to remind yourself the two slight figures in the ring, hidden behind their head guards, are not blokes.” He reflects, “At the acute risk of being called a chauvinist, I had…some misgivings. I am not sure my concerns amounted to a reasoned objection. If women want to box, who are we men, or indeed their fellow women, to say they shouldn’t? Nor is it a logical misgiving when you consider that women take part in rugby, taekwondo and wrestling. They can all be more injurious than amateur boxing with its protective gear…” Watching Nicola Adams in the ring he is quite won over: she “even had this sceptic’s support, 100%.”

Amir Khan, the 2004 Olympic boxing silver medallist, is on record as having once said, “Deep down I think women shouldn’t fight. When you get hit it hurts. It can be very painful”. It appears he has now changed his mind. He wants to promote Nicola Adams, declaring “I’m happy to take Nicola under my wing. I will make her a world champion.” Sir Clive Woodward of the British Olympic Association is also a champion of women’s boxing, stating exultantly that “We have arrived at true equality.”

I am sorry to sound a curmudgeon in all this. I am just wondering if everyone is too punch-drunk at the sight of our gleaming gold medal table to ask if it is appropriate for women to punch each other hard on the head and face in several bouts, with a view to knocking each other down (or out?) Women are not the same as men so why do we have this need to prove ourselves “equal” to them in every way? The sexes are different in personality and character as well as in physique; they are complementary, not interchangeable. Men are physically stronger, more aggressive; they are the sex who traditionally went into battle to protect the hearth and home. Women were supposedly the gentler sex in the best sense so it was thought, with gifts of compassion, caring, sympathy and intuition; the sex that civilised men by creating a home for them and their children (or in these days, creating a kinder, more humane atmosphere in the office). Why is it “chauvinistic” to say this, or to feel you have to apologise for acknowledging, as Jonathan McEvoy has admitted, that you have “misgivings”? Why are Amir Khan’s instincts “deep down” now seen as wrong?

The age of women’s rights began with a noble cause: the right to vote. But this endless battle for literal “equality” has ended by making fools of us all. Personally, I think we are all pretending we enjoy watching women, looking at a distance “like blokes” in their protective head guards, attacking other women in a deliberately aggressive, close contact sport that has been traditionally and rightly a male preserve. Either people are afraid to say the sight makes them uneasy or everyone has become more decadent in their tastes. For the record, and as McEvoy raised it, I also don’t like the thought of women doing taekwondo, wrestling or rugby, other masculine-type contact sports. It’s not that they are “unladylike”, a word with class connotations of “gentility”. It’s that they are unwomanly in its deepest sense. They are training women to be aggressive – and men are already aggressive enough.

I am not trying to stereotype women as shrinking violets. Catholics have the person of Our Lady as a model and guide. She was amazingly strong, steadfast and courageous – but also intrinsically feminine, not a pagan warrior queen. If we want women to behave like the fabled Amazons we are embracing neo-paganism. Judaeo-Christianity once gave us a more truly civilised sense of the particular genius of women – and it did not include participating in essentially male sports. Perhaps in countries where a Catholic culture is still alive or in a faith where women can identify with strong role models like Edith Stein or Blessed Gianna Molla, there is less of a craving to imitate men?

I think I’ll need protective head gear for saying all this.