BILES MAKES DREAMS COME TRUE IN RIO

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AT JUST 146CM TALL, US GYMNAST SIMONE BILES TURNED OUT TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST STARS OF RIO 2016. APPEARING AT HER FIRST OLYMPIC GAMES, THE TEENAGER FINISHED WITH FOUR OUT OF THE FIVE GOLD MEDALS IN HER SIGHTS, AND DAZZLED AUDIENCES WITH HER SUBLIME SKILLS.

In and out of foster care from an early age, the youngster was eventually adopted by her maternal grandfather and his wife. Shrugging off her early hardships and applying herself to artistic gymnastics with hard work and perseverance, she has gone on to prove in recent years – and no more so than in Rio - that “dreams do come true”.

Since her breakthrough at the World Championships in Antwerp in 2013, Biles has soared to stardom with a record 10 world titles. And she got her first ever Games underway by spearheading the US team that took gold in the team all-around event. Finishing a massive 8.209 points clear of Russia and China, the Americans blew away the competition to retain their title.

By the time Biles stepped up to do her floor routine, the destination of the gold was already clear, there was no sense of anti-climax as she thrilled the crowd with a stunning display set to Brazilian music and scored an incredible 15.800.

Two days later she took the individual all-around title prompting words of congratulations from Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci, who described her victory as “a beautiful success.”

On 14 August, the American teenager secured her third gold medal, this time in the vault. The last to compete, Biles scored 15.966 which was enough to deliver her title on this apparatus. A day later Biles made her only lapse in Rio, when she ceded gold in the beam to Dutchwoman Sanne Wevers. An uncharacteristic slip saw her slip into the bronze medal position.

However, her best was still to come. Biles secured her fourth gold medal in style with a brilliant performance on the mat. Biles stormed to gold with a near-perfect performance and a score of 15.966, thanks to a samba-influenced routine that showcased her power, agility and creativity, and sent the Rio crowd wild.

Her final gold saw the little Texan enter the history books by equalling the record of four titles won at the same Games that has been achieved by four gymnasts – the Soviet Union’s Larissa Latynina and Hungary’s Agnes Keleti in 1956, Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska in 1968 and Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo in 1984. Not only does she join this quartet in the record books, but also in the pantheon of Olympic greats.

With typical understatement and modesty, Biles summed up her Rio experience as follows: “My first Olympics and I’ve walked away with five medals, that's not disappointing at all.”

Watch more videos of Simone Biles on the Olympic Channel.

TAGSRIO 2016 , IOC NEWS , GYMNASTICS ARTISTIC

DEVELOPING STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING FOR YOU

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IOC/CAMPBELLBEING PHYSICALLY READY TO COMPETE IS CRUCIAL FOR ANY ATHLETE SEARCHING FOR SUCCESS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR SPORT; AND STAYING TRUE TO A COMPREHENSIVE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING PROGRAMME IS AT THE HEART OF THIS.

But what is a strength and conditioning (S&C) programme? In this latest video, Young Ambassadors Scott Kneller (AUS) and Panagiota Tsakiri (GRE), both winter Olympians themselves, explore what S&C means and delve deeper into the key aims of S&C as we get advice from some of the best on how to develop an S&C programme that works for you.

Want to go further? You can also find some great tips and advice on the Athlete Learning Gateway.

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IOC PRESIDENT VISITS VIETNAM

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IOC/GREG MARTIN

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IOC PRESIDENT THOMAS BACH SPOKE AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE OLYMPIC COUNCIL OF ASIA (OCA) IN DA NANG VIETNAM THIS WEEKEND.

The President praised the Asian National Olympic Committees for their great success at the Olympic Games Rio 2106. "Asia is going from strength to strength," he said. He noted that five NOCs had won a first gold medal:Bahrain, Jordan, Tajikistan, Singapore and Vietnam. 

IOC/GREG MARTIN

Also at the General Assembly was IOC Member Sheikh Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the OCA and of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). IOC Member Gunilla Lindberg, who is also Secretary General of ANOC, gave a presentation on ANOC’s activities. A number of other IOC Members were present, including IOC Vice-President John Coates.

Earlier, the IOC President, accompanied by Sheikh Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and IOC Vice-President John Coates, met with the Vietnamese Prime Minister ahead of the opening of the Asian Beach Games being held in the Vietnamese coastal city. 

IOC/GREG MARTIN

Coinciding with the OCA General Assembly, the President attended the opening ceremony of the Asian Beach Games accompanied by Sheikh Al-Sabah. Later, the President attended the Beach Games, watching competitions in two combat sports, ju-jitsu and muaythai.

IOC/GREG MARTIN

TAGSIOC NEWS , VIETNAM

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CIO

DATE

28 SEP 2016

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IOC NEWS ,REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM

PRESIDENT BACH AND MEMBERS OF REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM TAKE PART IN UN HUMAN RIGHTS EVENT

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PRESIDENT BACH JOINED MEMBERS OF THE REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM (ROT) TODAY AT THE UNITED NATIONS IN GENEVA. SITTING ALONGSIDE TEGLA LOROUPE, THE THREE-TIME OLYMPIAN AND CHEF DE MISSION OF THE ROT FROM KENYA, AND 800M RUNNER ROSE LOKONYEN, HE PARTICIPATED IN A MEETING THAT TOOK PLACE DURING THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL.

President Bach joined members of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) today at the United Nations in Geneva. Sitting alongside Tegla Loroupe, the three-time Olympian and Chef de Mission of the ROT from Kenya, and 800m runner Rose Lokonyen, he participated in a meeting that took place during the UN Human Rights Council.

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Joined by IOC Honorary President Jacques Rogge, who is the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Youth Refugees and Sport, President Bach told the meeting that the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 “had provided a much needed opportunity for the world to think differently about refugees and migrants in the light of the current crises and beyond that. Their participation was proof that refugees are an enrichment to society, just as they are an enrichment to our Olympic family.”

The side event was organised by the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations Office in Geneva with the IOC and looked at “sport and integration” and “the promotion of human rights for refugees and migrants”.

IOC

ROT member Rose Lokonyen from South Sudan, who was the ROT flag bearer, told the audience that it had been a dream come true when she joined the ROT in Rio de Janeiro: “The creation of the Refugee Olympic Team by IOC President Thomas Bach gave us hope. He gave us an opportunity, and he gave us the chance to live a dream,” she said. “Never could I have imagined that sport could take me so far. But through a lot of hard work, hours of training and great support and guidance from the Tegla Loroupe Foundation, and Tegla herself, we achieved great success.”

In 2003, Tegla Loroupe founded the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation (TLPF). It is a Peace and Development organisation that promotes peaceful co-existence and socio-economic development of poor and marginalised individuals and communities in Northern Kenya and the Greater Horn of Africa Region. Six out of the ten members of the ROT came from the programmes Tegla Loroupe is organising in Kenya. “Every day we use sport as a tool to provide a platform for dialogue among young people and communities in conflict,” she said.

IOC

IOC Honorary President Rogge pointed out that more than 50 per cent of the world’s 60 million refugees and displaced persons are children and youth: “I salute here the work of UNHCR and many other organisations that recognise the importance of sport as an effective tool to engage youth. It enables us to tackle a number of key issues ranging from protection, gender-based violence, and the empowerment of girls, to education, health, trauma recovery and peace-building.”

The attendees included Mr Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Ms Kelly Clements, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees; Ms Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Ms Laura Thomson, Deputy Director General of the International Organisation for Migration.

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OLYMPIC SUMMIT ON 8 OCTOBER 2016 – INFORMATION FOR THE MEDIA

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IOC

THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) HAS CONVENED AN OLYMPIC SUMMIT ON 8 OCTOBER 2016 IN LAUSANNE.

Discussions will focus on the protection of clean athletes and, more specifically, on a review of the WADA anti-doping system. The Olympic Summit will discuss some principles for a more robust, more efficient and more independent worldwide anti-doping system. This will include a reinforcement of the request issued by the Olympic Summit on 17 October 2015 to make the entire anti-doping system independent from sports organisations.

The Olympic Summit will also discuss a first debrief on the success of the Olympic Games Rio 2016.

The Olympic Summit involves leading representatives of the Olympic Movement. It forms part of the ongoing dialogue and consultation on the main topics of interest and concern to the Olympic Movement.

List of Invitees:

IOC President
IOC Vice-Presidents
IOC Executive Board Members representing IFs and Athletes

International Federations
President of FIFA
President of the FIG
President of FINA
President of the IAAF
President of the FIS
President of the IBSF

Recognised organisations
President of ANOC
President of the AIOWF
President of ASOIF

National Olympic Committees
President of the Chinese Olympic Committee
President of the Russian Olympic Committee
President of the United States Olympic Committee

Invited participants related to the topic of the fight against doping
President of WADA
President of SportAccord
President of the IPC

Time (local time)          Meetings / Events

9 a.m. – 1 p.m.             Olympic Summit (closed to media)
2.30 p.m.                      IOC President’s press conference via teleconference only

Media arrangements:

Please note that there will be NO media facilities at the Lausanne Palace Hotel, where the meeting is taking place.

Media representatives will have the possibility to take part in a teleconference with the IOC President and ask their questions on this occasion.

Please pre-register here to receive a dedicated dial-in number, a passcode and a personal pin for quicker and easier access to the conference.  Please be aware that the usual passcode cannot be used for this conference.

Please check regularly @iocmedia, where we will send updates on the timing of the press conference if necessary.

A Video News Release (VNR) with some general shots of the meeting room and comments from the IOC President will also be made available to broadcasters via the IOC Newsroom on that day.

IOC Athletes’ Forum ends with concrete measures to strengthen athletes at the heart of the Olympic Movement

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©IOC / Arnaud Meylan (4)

10/10/2015

Forum assesses the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations for athletes

The 7th IOC International Athletes’ Forum came to a close in Lausanne on Saturday with a set of recommendations aimed empowering Athletes’ Commissions at all levels.
The Forum warmly welcomed Olympic Agenda 2020, particularly the athlete-related recommendations.
The Athletes’ Forum recommendations included:
·         Empowering athletes through better communication and provision of information.  Fully integrating all athletes’ communications into the Olympic Channel.
·         To make all International Federations establish athletes’ commissions in accordance with the relevant IOC guidelines.
·         The Court of Arbitration for Sport to develop and educate athlete arbitrators.
IOC President Thomas Bach, himself an Olympic fencing champion, also joined the Athletes’ Forum, taking part in Q&A sessions with the athletes on Friday and Saturday. In his closing remarks, he praised those present for their hard work and welcomed their recommendations.
 
“These are a great set of recommendations that underline the commitment of the IOC to put athletes at the heart of the Olympic Movement,” he said.  Many of the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020 were proposed by the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and will further strengthen their role.  As one of the founding members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 1981 it is great for me to see the progress made from those first steps until today, where the athletes play a fundamental role in decision-making.”
Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission Claudia Bokel thanked her fellow athletes for their active engagement and constructive discussions.
“Athletes were central to the framing of many of the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020.  We are fully engaged in their implementation. This Athletes’ Forum was extremely productive and a great chance to exchange ideas; and we will continue to suggest new ways that athletes can remain at the very heart of the Olympic Movement,” said Claudia Bokel.
The full set of recommendations resulting from these discussions will be presented to the IOC Executive Board in December.

The three-day Forum, which takes place every two years, saw the participation of over 100 athletes from 40 countries with 100 Olympic medals and 200 Olympic appearances between them. They included Athletes’ Commission representatives from the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), International Federations, Continental Associations and, for the first time, athlete representatives from the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games.
The plenary sessions and panel discussions covered a number of topics concerning athletes – from effective leadership and Athletes’ Commission management best practices to athletes’ services and welfare, communication and experiences during Games time and beyond.

The Forum also included a practical session on the IOC’s latest initiatives for athletes, including the Olympic Athletes’ Hub and Integrity e-learning programme. The participants were given the exclusive opportunity to test drive and share first-hand their feedback on these athlete-centred platforms prior to their launch in early 2016 ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Athletes are at the heart of the Olympic Movement, and their voice is central to the IOC’s decision-making. Olympic Agenda 2020 reiterated the IOC’s commitment to strengthening support for athletes through a series of recommendations currently being implemented.

Brazil harbours high hopes for Beach Volleyball success in Rio

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©Getty Images

20/08/2015

Brazil’s beautiful coastline is well known for its stunning scenery, and it is also synonymous with beach volleyball, with games being played out in the shadows of stunning natural backdrops along the length of the country.

After football, volleyball – in both its indoor and beach forms – is the second most popular sport in Brazil and not surprisingly, the country has produced some of the most successful teams in history.
Perhaps surprisingly, though, beach volleyball didn’t really take off in Brazil and elsewhere in South America until the 1980s. The sport had already growing at an exponential rate across the USA by the time that Brazil first hosted its tournament in 1950. From that point onwards, more and more facilities appeared across the country, and by the 1980s the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema were crammed with courts and nets.
In 1986, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first international beach volleyball exhibition which was watched by 5,000 spectators. A year later, the city hosted an international FIVB-sanctioned tournament on Ipanema Beach. Two FIVB men’s tournaments followed in 1988 and 1989 before the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Series arrived in 1990, taking place in front of sell-out crowds.
©Getty Images
The Atlanta Games in 1996 saw the debut of beach volleyball as an Olympic sport, and it was no surprise to see Brazil and USA dominating the podiums.
Brazil entered two teams into both the men and women’s competitions. The men’s pairings of Roberto Lopes and Franco Neto, and Ze Marco de Melo and Emanuel Rego finished outside the medals, but the country’s women’s teams more than made up for it, with top seeds Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva overturning compatriots Monica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel in the final to collect gold and silver.
Brazil’s women took two places on the podium again four years later in Sydney, though Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede defeated by the host nation’s pair in the final and were forced to settle for silver. Adriana Samuel and Sandra Pires collected Bronze.
Behar and Bede added another silver in Athens in 2004, but this time round it was Brazil’s men who took centre stage. The pairings of Márcio Araújo and Benjamin Insfran, and Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos were seeded one and two respectively. And while there was disappointment for the favourites, Rego and Santos won gold after a scintillating final against Spanish duo Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera.

Now, as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games in 2016, both the men and women’s teams will feel they are better placed than ever to succeed.
One thing is for sure, all of the tools are in place for the country to continue exerting a major influence on the sport they embraced with such gusto in the 1980s.
Competitors and spectators in Rio next summer can certainly expect the host nation to put on a show worthy of this scintillating sport as it returns to the Olympic stage.

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