OLYMPIC GAMES

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - The British Olympic Association should not be punished for its lifetime Olympic ban on doping offenders even though it contravenes World Anti-Doping Agency rules, a senior International Olympic Committee official said Wednesday.

WADA ruled last month that the BOA's controversial lifetime ban for British doping offenders broke the world body's own rules, which specify a maximum two-year ban for a first offence.
The BOA, which bans any athlete guilty of a doping offence from future Olympics, has vowed to defend its ban and take its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport prior to the 2012 Games.
"No one can sanction a National Olympic Committee which within its own authority is trying to do its best to fight doping," IOC vice-president Thomas Bach told reporters.
"For all the rest it (the BOA) is fulfilling all its WADA requirements."
CAS also ruled in October that an IOC rule similar to the BOA's, excluding athletes banned for six months or more from the next Olympics, amounted to a second sanction and contravened WADA's anti-doping code.
"The spirit of WADA regulation is to fight doping," Bach said. "CAS has to give room for interpretation."
Bach, speaking during an IOC executive board meeting, said the IOC would decide Wednesday to work toward introducing their rejected "Osaka rule" into the revised WADA code in 2013.
"I support initiatives of NOCs in their country which they deem as legally feasible. We have to give NOCs the freedom to think what they can do. If they are confident they can push it through this is fine for me," he said.
The IOC said later the BOA would soon be compliant whatever the outcome of their case before CAS.
"We fully support the independence of NOCs to set their own rules but respect the ruling of CAS," IOC Director of Communications Mark Adams told reporters.
"I understand that they (BOA) are taking the case to CAS. Whatever the outcome they will be fully compliant."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by John Mehaffey)

By Karolos Grohmann

LAUSANNE, Switzerland The head of the European Olympic Committees has been nominated to replace Mexico's Mario Vazquez Rana on the IOC's powerful executive board next year.
EOC President Patrick Hickey of Ireland said he was nominated for the post Tuesday by the executive council of the Association of National Olympic Committees.
Vazquez Rana, the media magnate who has headed ANOC for 32 years, has served on the International Olympic Committee's rule-making executive board since 2000. However, he loses his IOC membership next year when he reaches the age limit of 80.
The terms of Vazquez Rana's succession on the IOC board has been a contentious issue in recent weeks.
Hickey said his nomination to replace Vazquez Rana will come up before the ANOC general assembly in Moscow in April. If ratified by the assembly, Hickey's appointment to the board would require final approval at the IOC session next summer during the London Olympics.
Vazquez Rana declined comment after Tuesday's meeting. The ANOC council will report on the issue Wednesday in a meeting with the IOC.
Vazquez Rana, an IOC member since 1991, was re-elected ANOC president last year to another four-year term.
He has sought unsuccessfully to get his position on the IOC and executive board extended until 2014.

WICB confirm T20 shift from Oval

West Indies kept their five-match series with India alive when they beat the hosts by 16 runs in the third One-day International here yesterday.

Defending 260 for five off their 50 overs, the Caribbean side made key strikes at crucial moments late in the contest at the Sardar Patel Stadium, to limit India to 244 all out off 46.5 overs.

Rohit Sharma seemed to be carrying India towards their third consecutive win but he was brilliantly run out by captain Darren Sammy in the 44th over, to swing the pendulum West Indies' way.

Man-of-the-Match Ravi Rampaul claimed four for 57, including two wickets in the second over of the innings that left India reeling at eight for two.

He returned to break a worrying last wicket-stand of 28, removing Abhimanyu Mithun for 23 and sealing victory for the Windies.

The tourists had earlier gotten 58 from Marlon Samuels but it was a whirlwind unbroken 79-run sixth wicket stand off 46 balls between Sammy and exciting all-rounder Andre Russell that injected life into the West Indies innings.

Losing their way at 181 for five, Sammy blasted 41 from a mere 17 balls and Russell added 40 from 18 balls as they spectacularly added 73 runs from the last five overs.

Sammy clobbered five fours and two sixes while Russell matched him blow for blow, counting four fours and two sixes.

Asked to bat first, West Indies were off to a bad start, losing in-form opener Lendl Simmons (1) to a catch behind in the day's third over.

Samuels then added 40 with Danza Hyatt (20) and put on another 55 with Darren Bravo before the left-hander retired hurt on 26, in the 26th over.

The right-handed Samuels hit five fours and a six off 93 balls but was bowled by off-spinner Ravi Ashwin, backing away to give himself room to hit through the off-side in the 34th over.

Denesh Ramdin (38) and Kieron Pollard (29) posted 55 for the fourth wicket but were out in consecutive overs, paving the way for Sammy and Russell to blast West Indies out of trouble.

India had a bad start again with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir both falling for first ball "ducks" to Rampaul.

Sehwag was caught at the wicket slashing while the left-handed Gambhir offered no stroke and was plumb lbw.

Opener Parthiv Patel (39) and Virat Kohli (20) repaired the innings with a 25-run third wicket partnership but the in-form Kohli became the first of debutant off-spinner Sunil Narine's (2-34) two wickets when he was lbw in the ninth over.

Patel's dismissal at 79 for four in the 15th over sparked a slide which saw India lose three wickets for 26 runs to fall to 105 for six.

Sharma, who faced 100 balls and hit ten fours and a six, then added 91 for the next wicket with Ashwin (31) to rescue India from collapse and put them in sight of a possible victory.

Ashwin became Narine's second wicket while Vinay Kumar (3) was bowled by pacer Kemar Roach as West Indies hit back.

The match was turned on its head moments later when Sharma was run out by a direct hit from Sammy at mid on and the last wicket fireworks were merely temporary.

–CMC

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

The weekend reports claiming that João Havelange had resigned as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) brought to mind two images from recent IOC Sessions.

The first is from Copenhagen in 2009.

The Brazilian, who as FIFA President once shared with the late Juan Antonio Samaranch the billing of 'Most Powerful Man in World Sport', is inviting fellow members of the IOC club to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2016.

A short while later, the photogenic Brazilian city was unveiled as the 2016 Summer Olympic Games host, beating both a Madrid bid backed by Havelange's old chum Samaranch and a Chicago bid backed by the most powerful human being on the planet.

It was a moment of purest triumph for the old warhorse.

The second is from Durban in 2011.

Joseph Blatter (pictured left with IOC President Jacques Rogge), FIFA President de nos jours and IOC member, is confiding that he will depart from South Africa with a blueprint of the IOC ethics machinery in his briefcase.

Just as it seemed that the IOC was striving to differentiate itself from FIFA in its handling of corruption-related issues, probing three IOC members – including Havelange – over allegations made by BBC Panorama, so FIFA was apparently planning to rip pages out of the IOC's book.

If there is one thing that the latest reports (if confirmed) will do, however, it is to highlight the gaping credibility chasm between the world's two most prominent sports bodies in their ethics policing.

The IOC's reputation for this – having learnt the hard way via the Salt Lake City scandal – is now very good.

Havelange's resignation will have boosted this reputation still further – and at an opportune moment with a high-stakes battle between six cities – Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo – for the 2020 Olympics in its early stages.

This is even though a resignation letter is reported to have cited health reasons.

By contrast, FIFA's credibility on ethics matters remains, in my judgement, very low, in spite of a recent flurry of activity.

Only last week the impact of the unveiling of its new reform chief, Mark Pieth (pictured), was partly undermined when the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said it had turned down an invitation to join Pieth's new independent Governance Committee.

Another key moment in FIFA's battle to restore its battered reputation is expected to come on December 16 and 17 at its Executive Committee meeting in Tokyo.

Blatter indicated in October that the meeting would see the reopening of a file on ISL, a company engaged by FIFA to sell World Cup broadcasting and marketing rights, which collapsed in 2001 with debts of $300 million (£192 million/€224 million).

It is from ISL that Havelange is alleged to have received $1 million (£639 million/€746 million), in the matter being looked at by the IOC Ethics Commission.

Havelange's resignation will probably end the IOC's role in the affair, since its Ethics Commission would be expected to then drop the case, as IOC rules stipulate.

According to reports, a two-year suspension at least for the Brazilian, who has denied the allegations, was expected to be considered at the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne on Thursday.

This is even though the receipt of payments, such as those alleged by Panorama, would not at the time have been against Swiss law.

Blatter said in October that the ISL file would be given to "an independent organisation outside of FIFA" so they could extract its conclusions and "present them to us".

However, I understand that procedural matters laid down in Swiss law, and therefore beyond FIFA's control, are likely to slow things down, perhaps considerably.

In which case, the Tokyo meeting could turn out to be less significant than it initially appeared and scepticism about FIFA's reforms may be reinforced.

Havelange's (pictured left) resignation leaves one more, potentially delicate, issue for the IOC to navigate.

As things stand, the athletics stadium for the 2016 Olympics is to be named in Havelange's honour.

Had the Brazilian been sanctioned over the ISL affair, this would have been embarrassing for the Olympic Movement.

Now, were pressure to be applied to find a new name, it could be argued that any such move would constitute unnecessary cruelty to a sick old man who, when all is said and done, was one of the towering figures of 20th century sport.

But what if the FIFA process did eventually – ie over the next four to five years – produce unwelcome disclosures?

Sceptics and Havelange supporters will find this unlikely, but I would be surprised if those whose job it is to burnish the Olympic Movement's public image didn't continue to monitor the evolution of brand Havelange with some care.

It will not have escaped readers' attention that word of Havelange's resignation came on the same day that the former Brazil football captain, Sócrates – a figure universally associated with all that is best about his country's inimitable flair for the game – died.

It would be facile and cheap to suggest that one name might beneficially be substituted for the other: athletics wasn't Sócrates' thing and Havelange accomplished more than enough in his administrative life to warrant a Brazilian stadium being named after him.

But if Havelange deserves his stadium, then Sócrates, unquestionably, does too.

I hope those organising the world's two greatest sporting festivals in Brazil between now and 2016 will take note.

By David Owen

Source: www.insidethegames.biz