KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Ap

Discover the twelve new winter sports events for Sochi 2014!

18/12/2013

Twelve winter sports events (three mixed events, four men’s events and five women’s events) will make their debuts on the Olympic programme in Sochi. Here’s what to look out for:

Biathlon mixed relay – MixedTeams will comprise of two men and two women. Women will open the relay, completing the first two 6km legs. The men then complete the next two 7.5km legs.


Figure skating team event – MixedFeaturing teams made up of six skaters – one male, one female, one pair and one ice dance couple. Points will be awarded for each routine and the team with the highest number of aggregate points will win gold.

Luge team relay – MixedEach nation will field a men’s singles sled, a doubles sled and a women’s singles sled. All three will slide down the track, one after another, with the clock stopping only after the third sled has crossed the finish line.

Ski halfpipe – Men’s and Women’sEach athlete will perform an array of big airs and other tricks in the halfpipe before being judged on technical execution, amplitude, variety, difficulty and use of pipe.

Ski slopestyle – Men’s and Women’sSkiers combine airs and tricks on a 565m course featuring rails and a variety of jumps before being scored on execution, style, difficulty, variety and progression.

Snowboard slopestyle – Men’s and Women’sAthletes will be scored after descending a 655m course consisting of rails and a variety of jumps, as they combine big airs and technical tricks into one run.

Snowboard parallel slalom – Men’s and Women’sRiders will race two at a time down the same slope on two parallel courses, outlined with gates and triangular flags.

Women’s ski jumping – Women’sThe women’s normal hill event will mark the first time that women will compete in ski jumping at the Winter Games.

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KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

IOC President meets HRH Prince of Asturias, Spanish Prime Minister

©COE/ Nacho Casares Montoya (2)

18/12/2013

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach today visited His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias before meeting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at his official residence in Madrid.

President Bach and Prime Minister Rajoy discussed the very important role that Spanish sport and Spanish athletes play in the sports world. President Bach told the Spanish Prime Minister how well received the Madrid 2020 bid had been, and told him it showed great potential for future development. The pair also discussed the positive preparations for the upcoming Games in Sochi.
Accompanying the President during his meetings was Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco. They were joined in their meeting with Prime Minister Rajoy by IOC members in Spain Juan Antonio Samaranch, Marisol Casado and José Perurena.
Earlier in the day, President Bach met with the heads of Spanish-speaking National Olympic Committees, who presented a joint programme for higher education.
President Bach also visited the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) company, which is headquartered in Madrid. There, he was given the latest positive news on preparations for Sochi. Future plans for a potential Olympic TV channel were also discussed.
Earlier, he met with a group of Spanish research scientists, who gave a presentation on potential new anti-doping methods for the identification of prohibited substances.
In the evening, during its annual gala, the Spanish Olympic Committee gave awards to athletes and other prominent members of the sports world.

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KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

IOC announces winner of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Medal Design Competition

20/12/2013

A young sports fan from Slovakia was today announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the winner of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Medal Design Competition.

The winning concept, entitled “Track of Winners”, was chosen from a pool of over 300 entries from 50 plus countries by a prestigious IOC jury who described it as “modern, fresh and dynamic” when they were brought together from across the globe to deliberate the decision earlier this month.

Speaking about his win, 23-year-old Matej Čička said: “It was our school task to join this competition and design a medal. So I drew a lot of sketches and spoke with a teacher to choose the best one. I was inspired by the athletes’ track which, to me, means the base of the Youth Olympic Games. So I put it into my concept and used different shapes to represent the winning athletes and the podium.  And finally I called it The Track of Winners.”

The judging panel comprised world-renowned designer Thomas Heatherwick, the man behind the iconic Olympic cauldron at the London 2012 Olympic Games; Youth Olympic Games 400m hurdles gold medallist Aurélie Chaboudez (FRA); Olympic short-track speed skating champion Yang Yang (CHN); Youth Olympic Games Ambassador Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS); Olympic fencer and IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Claudia Bokel (GER); and IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli.

The panel also selected two runner-up designs that were placed in second and third place behind the winner. They were ‘A Hug From Lele!’ by Hugo Fernández, 29, from Spain; and ‘Stripes of Victory’ by Csaba Szitas, 28, from Slovakia.

Of his role as a jury member, Thomas said: “It's been thrilling to have the chance to look through so many exciting ideas from all over the world and to feel how much the Youth Olympic Games mean to young people.”

The online competition was launched in September and invited fans all over the world to get inspired by the Olympic values and share in the YOG spirit by submitting their designs. Matej’s winning design will feature on the face of the gold, silver and bronze medals awarded in Nanjing from 16 to 28 August. His first prize also includes a trip to the Games, tickets to the Opening Ceremony and a full collection of the medals featuring their design.

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KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay reaches halfway mark

©Sochi 2014

16/12/2013

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay has passed the halfway mark as it continues its 123-day journey across Russia ahead of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The landmark was celebrated in Tobolsk, on the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, with 25 Torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame on a 5.3km route along the city streets, as well as in the grounds of the Tobolsk Kremlin – the only stone fortress in Siberia.

Among the Torchbearers were Alexander Nesterov, the president of the local volleyball club, teacher Anatoly Berezin, and Alexey Gorodetsky, a member of the Russian wheelchair basketball team.

The following day, the Torch Relay reached the Sverdlovsk region, visiting Nizhny Tagil and Yekaterinburg, where the Olympic flame was taken to the viewing platform of the Vysotsky business centre – the highest building in Russia outside Moscow, as well as the most northern skyscraper in the world among buildings taller than 150 metres. 



The honour of carrying the Olympic flame to the highest point of the building was given to Olympic rhythmic gymnastics champion Irina Zilber and six-time swimming world champion Yuri Prilukov. 

"It's so neat,” said Zilber afterwards. “Such indescribable feelings of joy and excitement, and touching something so important, great, and to some degree sacred.”

In Nizhny Tagil, the Torch Relay began in spectacular style at one of the biggest ski jumping centres in Russia, with Torchbearer Sergey Dyachuk – a three-time Russian champion in Nordic combined – landing in the arena after performing a jump from the 90-metre ramp before collecting the Olympic flame.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay is now set to continue its journey across Russia on its way to the Opening Ceremony of Sochi 2014 on 7 February 2014.

The route has been designed to ensure that around 90% of Russia's population will be within an hour of the Relay at some stage, allowing approximately 130 million residents to participate in the event.

Find out more about the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners athttp://torchrelay.sochi2014.com/en/Partners 

More information on the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay can be found athttp://torchrelay.sochi2014.com/en/

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Lake Placid enjoys long and continued Olympic legacies

©IOC

17/12/2013

The small upstate New York village of Lake Placid has enjoyed a long Olympic tradition thanks to the two editions of the Olympic Winter Games it has hosted, which came 48 years apart, in 1932 and 1980.

The Lake Placid Games in 1932 marked the first time that the Olympic Winter Games had been held in North America – and the first outside Europe – and helped bring worldwide recognition to Lake Placid, leading to increased tourism, which has since been the backbone of the economy in the Adirondack Mountains.

The 1932 Winter Games also brought improved infrastructure and new facilities, including the multi-purpose Olympic Centre, which was specially built to host the figure skating events and six of the 12 ice hockey games – the first indoor arena ever used for the Winter Games.

The success of the 1932 Games helped establish Lake Placid as a leader in the resort and sports world and expanded the summer tourism season. From 1932 to the 1950s, Lake Placid also hosted more international sporting events – including speed skating, bobsleigh and Nordic skiing world championships – and produced more US Olympic athletes than any other American town.

By 1954, Lake Placid was eager to host the Winter Games again, but it wasn’t until 1980 that the world’s attention was once again focused on the Adirondack Mountains, as the region welcomed the Winter Games for a second time.

While some venues, such as the ski jumping hills, were rebuilt ahead of the Games, many of the same facilities were used again in 1980, including the Olympic Centre, which was once again the site of many memorable Olympic moments, not least the USA men’s ice hockey team’s triumph over the heavily fancied Soviet Union – a match that has since been known as the ‘Miracle on Ice’.

To ensure that the legacy of the 1980 Winter Games stretched beyond the memorable sporting moments, New York State announced its decision to place the responsibility for maintaining, managing and promoting all of the Olympic venues under one organisation – the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA).

The ORDA’s key initiatives have since been instrumental in nurturing Lake Placid’s status as a world-class winter sports centre, ensuring an ongoing Olympic legacy that has helped shape the region’s economy.

Since the 1980 Games, Lake Placid has hosted numerous world championships and World Cup events, highlighting the continued positive impact that hosting the Winter Games can have.

Over the last 30 years, other legacy initiatives have included the construction of the Olympic Training Centre in 1995, construction of the new combined bobsled, luge and skeleton run in 2000, improvements at Whiteface Mountain including the addition of a high speed gondola and, most recently, construction of the new Conference Centre in Lake Placid – a state-of-the-art meeting facility that opened in the spring of 2011.

These facilities have continued to improve the economy of the region, with tourism more than doubling since 1980, according to the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.

As Sochi prepares to welcome the Olympic Winter Games to Russia for the first time, it can point to the example of Lake Placid and look forward to a long and continued Olympic legacy from the facilities that have been built along the Black Sea and in the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana.

Travel back in time and watch our video from Lake Placid 1932

 

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Alexis Pinturault is heading for the summit

©Getty Images

16/12/2013

Though only 22, Alexis Pinturault is one of the world’s leading skiers in a number of disciplines. His inexorable climb to the top will now take him to the resort of Rosa Khutor, the venue for the Alpine skiing events at Sochi 2014, where he will be vying for several medals.

Hailing from Courchevel, where his father runs a hotel, Alexis Pinturault is French Alpine skiing’s brightest hope. A world junior giant slalom champion in 2009, he made his World Cup debut as an 18-year-old that same season and was soon figuring among the best in slalom, giant slalom, super G and super combined. By the time he turned 22, he had already scored four wins on the FIS circuit, while also finishing in the top six in every event bar the downhill at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, a remarkable performance that the ambitious young skier admitted to being slightly disappointed with. 

Looking ahead to his first Winter Games next February, Pinturault said: “To my mind there’s no bigger event in a sportsperson’s career. Everyone watches and follows the Games.” But he won’t be doing anything special to prepare for Sochi.  . “Even though it’s an amazing occasion, I don’t see any reason why I should go about my training differently,” he says “That said, I’ll obviously need to approach the Games in the right way to be in good shape for my events. I need to be aware of what to expect there. We’ll be in big demand and there’ll be a lot of media attention. I’ll need to keep things in perspective and know exactly what I’m there for, which is to ski and nothing else.”  

An all-round talent 

A runner-up to the USA’s Ted Ligety in the giant slalom at this season’s opening FIS World Cup event at Solden in late October, Pinturault has several strings to his bow and the skills to shine in both the technical and speed events. . “I’m still not fast enough in super G, but I’m thinking of competing in three events at Sochi (slalom, giant slalom and super combined),” he explained. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t give myself as many chances as I can to win medals. I don’t really have a favourite event and I’ve had several podium finishes in each of them, though I’ve had more in giant slalom than in any other. Downhill and super G are the two in which I can improve the most.”  

Pinturault identified the healthy competition in the France team as one of the factors that has expedited his progress: “It pushes us all on and we all try to make the most of being around each other.” As for the challenge that lies ahead at Sochi, he is keeping his approach simple: “I don’t have any specific objectives this season. My only goal is to do as well as I possibly can in each race and just take each one as it comes; step by step, as they say.” 

Blessed with a cool head, sound technique, searing pace and nerves of steel, Pinturault is making steady progress towards the summit of world skiing, and has shown he has what it takes to be in the mix for the medals when the world’s skiing elite assembles in Sochi.

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Rio 2016 continues its sustainability journey

© Luiz Barros/Fiperj

16/12/2013

The Rio 2016 Organising Committee is continuing to deliver its strategy to make the 2016 Olympic Games as sustainable as possible by signing new agreements guaranteeing that all seafood served at the Games will be sustainably sourced and that all wood purchased by Games organisers will be certified as sustainable.

The landmark announcements mean that all of the seafood served to the athletes, officials, media and at the on-site restaurants will be wild caught and responsibly farmed, while all wood and forestry products – including overlay structures, furniture, stationery and communication materials – will also be certified. 

Speaking about the seafood agreement, Julie Duffus, Sustainability Manager for the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, said: “This will ensure that our catering not only improves the local food industry but improves it to a standard that will leave a lasting, positive legacy post Games for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.”

Regarding the certified wood commitment, Tania Braga, Rio 2016 Head of Sustainability, Accessibility and Legacy, added: “It will be a great opportunity to showcase production and consumption practices that are less harmful to the environment with the use of certified products. We are fully committed to realising this important step for sport and for the country.”

The Rio 2016 Organising Committee also recently opened its doors to 25 civil society organisations to hear their contributions towards making the Games even more sustainable.

Approximately 50 representatives took part in the organising committee's first Dialogue Workshop, held on 2-4 December in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The working groups contributed to the revision of the Sustainability Management Plan for the Rio 2016 Games, with proposals for improvements, criticisms and new suggestions. The initiative aims to open a continuous dialogue with civil society and encourage a collective effort to create more sustainable Games.

“We had an extremely productive three days of work,” said Braga. “I was impressed by the level of preparation, the quality of everything that was presented and the desire to contribute. It's an important step in our efforts to deepen dialogue with society and we can count on the help of all these organisations in the work that is ahead of us. We see a unique opportunity to make the most of the Games' power as a catalyst, to meet the important needs of our society.”