Olympic Values Education: Celebrating the Milestone of 12 Million Children Reached in India
The International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) reached a major milestone last week: now in its third year of implementation in India, OVEP has engaged more than 12 million children across the country.
To mark the occasion, the Olympic Museum, which manages the programme, welcomed children and teachers from Assam, India, to Lausanne, Switzerland, one year after OVEP was implemented in their state. The delegation, organised through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust (ABFT), participated in the museum's 43rd annual Olympic Week, which features sports and cultural activities for kids.
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Coventry's mettle tested by Russian Olympic debate, say former IOC figures
International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry is in the spotlight on how she handles her "baptism of fire" over Russia, former IOC executives have told AFP. With just six months to go to the opening ceremony for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games the odds are that Russian athletes -- normally a Winter Games superpower -- will have to compete under a neutral banner, owing to the country breaching the Olympic Charter. The IOC excluded the Russian NOC after it had placed under its authority several sports organisations from Ukrainian regions that Russian forces now occupy. That move came after President Vladimir Putin -- not for the first time in his country's turbulent relationship with the IOC -- broke the Olympic Truce when he launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. When the IOC under Thomas Bach -- and with Coventry a member of the Executive Committee -- permitted Russian athletes to compete as neutrals at the Paris Summer Olympics last year, some federations took a far harsher line. World Athletics barred all athletes from Russia and its allies Belarus from its competitions, as did other federations. The scenario is no different for winter sports, with the International Ski Federation (FIS), which is responsible for more than half the Olympic medal events, biathlon and luge taking a similar stance, though figure skating has not followed suit. Michael Payne, a former head of IOC marketing, told AFP there is "no question that Russia at some stage has to be brought back in from the cold" -- but the 2026 Winter Games will come too soon. "Kirsty Coventry is in the spotlight, everyone is watching everyone," he said. "There will be strong views and opinions no matter what decision you take. You will have various politicians using that decision to make a point, (and it) probably won't always be complimentary. "You are walking on thin ice. I think the right thing is to say you cannot rush this, you cannot blindside different stakeholders and politicians. "The political challenges facing a new IOC president was always going to be a baptism of fire." - 'Complex problems' - Payne said Russia was the "elephant in the room" for all of Bach's 12-year tenure, from the two invasions of Ukraine to the state-sponsored doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The 67-year-old Irishman says the challenge for Coventry is that politicians are seeking "to weaponise the sports agenda" once again having largely stayed away during earlier eras, such as that of Juan Antonio Samaranch's tenure from 1980-2001. "One of Samaranch's great achievements was to bury the boycott agenda and for the better part of three decades or more politicians generally left sport alone," said Payne, who is credited with overhauling the IOC's brand and finances through sponsorship during Samaranch's reign. "Under Bach, with the Russia/Ukraine agenda, politics re-entered it and navigating an ever more complicated global political environment and keeping sport out of the crossfire is going to tax any leader. "A new leader is going to have their hands full." Another former IOC marketing executive, Terrence Burns, knows Russia well having first worked there in 1992 as Delta Air Lines' country marketing manager for the entity then known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. "There's no shortcut back in," Burns told AFP, adding that Russia "has never really owned up to any of it". "There's been no admission, no accountability. Zero," the American said. "That leaves the IOC in a tough but manageable spot. "If Russia wants back in, it's going to have to show it's willing to change." Burns, who later played a key role in five successful Olympic bid city campaigns, argued however that in the end Russia is integral to the Olympics. "The Olympics need Russia at the Games, just as they need the USA, China, etc," said Burns. "The true Olympic thesis is 'we all belong, or no one does.' That works fine in theory, speeches, and marketing campaigns. "Translating it into the real geopolitical world is a hell of a lot harder than it looks." Burns believes the Russians should not expect a speedy return. "People always want simple answers for complex problems," he said. "But the IOC cannot afford simplistic solutions because the universality that it espouses may well be the last, truly global theology upon all humanity can agree. "Yes, I think the stakes are that big. (Coventry) knows this too and she won't be pressed into a 'convenient decision.'" pi/gj
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Futuristic, Helmut Jahn-designed United Airlines terminal opens at O'Hare
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 4, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1984: Blond-haired Morton Grove native Bart Conner produced a flawless performance in the parallel bars to earn his first gold medal, which was quite a feat considering he had surgery the previous December to repair a torn bicep muscle. Then, he helped the U.S. men's team secure its first team all-around Olympic gymnastics gold medal in 80 years. Conner married three-time gold-medal winner Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci — who dazzled the world at just 14 with perfect 10s at the 1976 Montreal Olympics — in 1996. Together they run a gymnastics academy in Norman, Oklahoma. Conner and Comaneci were part of the Chicago delegation that traveled to Copenhagen in 2009, to make an appeal before the International Olympic Committee to be the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. 1987: The United Airlines terminal opened at O'Hare International Airport. The $540 million, Helmut Jahn-designed glass and aluminum complex included two buildings connected by an underground walkway featuring a 744-foot flashing neon sculpture, galactic synthesizer music and moving sidewalks. O'Hare International Airport: From farm to global terminalThe 85-acre facility — which would include 42 gates upon completion in December 1988 — also featured a $38 million, computerized baggage-handling system that could process 480 bags a minute. 1993: White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura, then 26, sprinted at 46-year-old Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan, who had just plunked Ventura in the right elbow with a fastball in the third inning. Ventura was incensed. He took Ryan's actions to be retaliation, plain and simple, for a series of incidents. Yes, Robin Ventura remembers that one-sided fight with Nolan Ryan. And he can laugh about it.'If you know the game, it's no secret what he was doing,' said Ventura, his elbow encased in an elastic brace. 'If you don't think he did it on purpose, you don't know the game.' Ryan put the 26-year-old Ventura in a headlock and started pummeling him. Chicago's history with hosting Democratic and Republican conventions dates back to 18601994: Chicago beat out San Antonio to host the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Democratic Chairman David Wilhelm announced during a news conference at Navy Pier that the world would once again be watching Chicago. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
San Francisco Chronicle
01-08-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
Enhanced Games (no drug testing) signs its first female athlete, world-champion swimmer Megan Romano
The Olympic-style sports venture that will run an event next year with no drug testing signed world-champion swimmer Megan Romano as its first female and first American athlete Thursday. The Enhanced Games will debut next May in Las Vegas, featuring swimming, track and weightlifting competitions in an event that will allow athletes to use performance enhancers. Romano calls competing in the event "an opportunity to push the boundaries of human performance in a transparent and scientifically-backed environment, and to compete on a stage where female athletes are valued and compensated fairly. equally. I believe this is the future of sport.' The Enhanced Games will offer a prize purse of $500,000 for each event with $1 million bonuses going to anyone who breaks a world record in the 100-meter sprint (track) and 50-meter freestyle (swimming). Those marks would not count as 'official,' because world records need to be ratified by international federations, which require record-breakers to pass doping tests. The International Olympic Committee has condemned the concept of the Enhanced Games, saying, "If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it.' Romano, a standout swimmer at Georgia in college, anchored the U.S. 4x100 freestyle relay team to a gold medal at world championships in 2013. ___
