GAMES

January 13 -  Innsbruck 2012 tonight delivered on their promise of hosting a "cosy rather than spectacular" Opening Ceremony for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games, which nevertheless proved a heart-warming spectacle despite the freezing temperature at the snow covered Bergisel Stadium.

The undoubted highlight for the 15,000 spectators in attendance was the lighting of the Olympic Flame - or three Flames - because for the first time in the Games 116-year  history, three cauldrons were lit simultaneously.

The reason for this was because the Bergisel Stadium held the Olympic Flames for the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, the last two times that Innsbruck hosted the Games.

Shortly after Austrian President Heinz Fischer had declared the Games open, the Flame of the First Winter Youth Olympic Games arrived in the Bergisel Stadium.

It was carried through the excited crowd by a number of Olympic stars, including reigning Vancouver 2010 figure skating champion and Youth Olympic Games Ambassador Kim Yu-Na, before it was eventually handed to the legendary Egon Zimmermann.

Zimmermann, the Innsbruck 1964 Olympic champion in the men's downhill, then lit the Cauldron of the 1964 Olympic Winter Games.

Zimmermann then passed the Torch to Franz Klammer, the Innsbruck 1976 Olympic champion in the men's downhill, who lit the Cauldron of the 1976 Olympic Winter Games.

Finally it was the young Austrian ski jumper Paul Gerstgraser, who had won gold at the European Youth Olympic Flame Festival in Liberec last year, who lit the Cauldron of the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games beside the two other brightly burning Olympic Flames.

The historical climax to the Ceremony followed an event that cleverly fused modern youth culture with Tyrolean tradition and entertainment that included freestyle skiers and snowboarders jumping overhead and the paring of ancient Tyrolean dances with a hip hop crew.

The Ceremony started with traditional Austrian singing and dancing before bloggers BASSS-T and Olympia took centre stage to show online videos featuring highlights from Innsbruck 1964 and 1976.

More young dancers took to the stage, with the freestyle skiers taking to the slopes, before International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and Innsbruck 2012 chairman Richard Rubatscher made their speeches to the crowd.

It was Rogge, wearing the brightly coloured top of the Innsbruck 2012 volunteers, who spoke most poignantly to the 15,000 sell-out crowd and the 15 to 18-year-olds in attendance.

"For the first time, young people from around the world have come together for the Winter Youth Olympic Games, a global celebration of sport and Olympic values," he said.

"You have come here from 70 countries not just to compete against each other, but also to learn from each other.

"Some of the friendships formed over the next nine days will last a lifetime, and so will the memories."

Rogge then handed over to the Austrian President who said: "I now declare the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympic Games in Tyrol in Austria open."

The triple Flame lighting then took centre stage before it was left to 15-year-old EMA to perform the official Innsbruck 2012 song and the Ceremony concluded with an impressive firework display.

While the event was low key, it was certainly fitting of the historic Bergisel Stadium, which lies on the site famous for a battle in 1809 involving Napoleon.

Meanwhile the Winter Youth Olympic Games, which will run until  January 22, will feature some of the world's most talented young athletes taking part in the seven sports currently on the winter Olympic programme, including three new events: women's ski jumping, ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle.

After their success at the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, mixed-gender and mixed-country events will also form part of the programme, with a mixed alpine skiing parallel team event and mixed-country short track skating team relay.

In addition, mixed-sport events, such as cross-country biathlon, will be introduced for the first time.

Just under 1,100 athletes from 70 countries will compete at the event while nearly all 80,000 tickets for the competition have been sold.

By Tom Degun

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

January 13 - McDonald's today officially announced here that it was extending its worldwide Olympic sponsorship until 2020.

The announcement was made at the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games here at a ceremony attended by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and McDonald's President and chief operating officer Don Thompson.

"We are delighted that McDonald's, our long-time and valued Olympic Partner for more than 35 years, is continuing its ongoing commitment not only to help fund the Olympic Games but also to support the Olympic Movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves," said Rogge.

It extends McDonald's relationship with the Olympics which stretches back to 1968 when the company airlifted in hamburgers for American athletes competing at the 1968 Winter Games in Gernoble.

"We share the Olympic ideals of teamwork, excellence and being your best," said Thompson (pictured below left with Rogge centre and Kevin Newell, the executive vice-president and global chief brand officer Kevin Newell right).

"Those ideals are at the heart of what McDonald's stands for and how we've brought the Games to life.

"Feeding the athletes is a tradition we are extremely proud of, and we look forward to continuing our role in helping to make the Games possible."

McDonald's first official association with the Olympics was at Montreal in 1976 and they became a woldwide sponsor in 1997.

McDonald's current deal ends after London 2012 and the new $100 million (£65 million/€78 million) agreement covers Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and Pyeongchang 2018 as well as the 2020 Olympics, which are due to be awarded next year to either Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo.

It also includes the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, the Winter event at Lillehammer in 2016 and the 2018 Summer event.

"We are very pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with McDonald's, and we appreciate the quality menu that McDonald's delivers at the Olympics as the Official Restaurant of the Games," said Gerhard Heiberg, the chairman of the IOC's Marketing Commission.

"We believe that the long-term agreements we have in place with leading companies are a testament to the continued strength and appeal of the Olympic Games as a global marketing platform for sport."

McDonald's would join P&G, Visa, Omega, Dow Chemical, General Electric and Coca-Cola who already have sponsorship agreements through the 2020 Games.

By Duncan Mackay

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

International Olympic Committee (IOC) marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg has revealed McDonald’s is poised to become the latest high-profile partner to commit to the Olympic Games through to 2020.

The American fast food chain’s current contract as a TOP Partner is due to expire following this year’s London Olympics and Heiberg has stated a new eight-year deal is set to be sealed during the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics, which commences in Innsbruck on Friday. Heiberg told Reuters: “The situation is positive and I don't see any obstacle. We are very close. We will meet in Innsbruck and finalise everything. Hopefully we will sign the contract there.”

The new four-Games deal would take in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics in Sochi and PyeongChang, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 event, which is yet to be allocated a host city. The length of the agreement would mirror US network NBC’s record broadcast contract, which was agreed last year and will cover the same editions of the Olympics.

McDonald’s has been an IOC sponsor since 1976. The IOC’s TOP programme currently consists of 11 companies – six of which have already committed through to 2020 in the shape of Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, GE, Omega, Procter & Gamble and Visa. Atos Origin, Panasonic and Samsung have extended their deals through to Rio 2016. Computing firm Acer’s agreement is set to expire at the end of London 2012.

Heiberg added that deals will not extend past 2020 as the IOC plans to reform its TOP programme beyond that date.

By Matt Cutler

Source: www.sportbusiness.com

January 11 - McDonald's is close to extending its sponsorship of the Olympics until 2020 in a $100 million (£65 million/€78 million) deal, it has been revealed here.

Gerhard Heiberg, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Marketing Commission, hopes to seal the eight-year deal with the fast food giant during the Winter Youth Olympic Games which are due to start here on Friday (January 13).

"The situation is positive and I don't see any obstacle," Heiberg told Reuters.

"We are very close."

McDonald's current agreement with the IOC comes to an end after London 2012 and the new deal would extend their involvement in the Olympics which stretches back to Montreal in 1976.

It would cover Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and Pyeongchang 2018 plus 2020, for which Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo are bidding.

During the bid process for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics there was controversy when John Lewicki, McDonald's senior director of alliance marketing, warned that the company would be more likely to renew its sponsorship deal with the IOC if they awarded the Games to Chicago, where they are based.

"The international market is very important to us, but some of the cities they are picking are not," said Lewicki.

"I'm not going to tell you if it's not Chicago, we won't renew, but if it is Chicago we probably will."

McDonald's was later forced to issue a clarification claiming that they were neutral in the race even though Andrew McKenna, the non-executive chairman of McDonald's, was co-chairman of fundraising for the Chicago 2016 campaign.

McDonald's are supporting the volunteer programme for London 2012 by helping train the Games Makers, as they will be known, and announcing plans for four outlets on the Olympic Park during the Games, including the biggest in the world.

The 3,000 square-metre (32,000 square-foot) two-story building in the Olympic Park will have 1,500 seats.

McDonald's plans to serve 1.75 million meals during the 29 day period of the Olympics and Paralympics.

McDonald's would join P&G, VISA, Omega, Dow Chemical, General Electric and Coca-Cola who already have sponsorship agreements through the 2020 Games.

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

By Duncan Mackay

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

January 11 - The British Olympic Association's (BOA) two leading officials remain staunchly adamant about winning the fight to maintain their blanket Olympic ban on drugs cheats.

March 12 has been set as the date at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the BOA to defend its controversial anti-doping bylaw which, if it is overturned, would see the likes of Dwain Chambers and David Millar being allowed to compete at the London 2012 Games.

The BOA filed a formal appeal last month with the CAS to challenge the decision in November by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which declared its controversial anti-doping bylaw non-compliant.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the hearing date was set, BOA chairman Colin Moynihan (pictured) admitted the dispute was an unfortunate distraction but reiterated that the BOA were fiercely committed to its anti-doping principles.

"It's a widely debated issue nationally and internationally because the importance of it is central to sport," Moynihan told insidethegames.

"It's about the right of a national sports body to select athletes and ensure those who are selected are clean.

"Our selection policy has stood the test of time."

Moynihan argued WADA itself needed to put its house in order.

"If you look at other National Olympic Committees, under 50 are fully compliant with the processes and procedures written down by the WADA code," he said.

"It is not the case that 203 out of 204 are fully compliant."

The BOA, Moynihan revealed, would not be content just with winning the high-profile case in March.

"The second challenge is to see far reaching and fundamental reforms of WADA in the context of the current review of the WADA code which will be finally implemented in January 2015," he said.

"We want to play a key and central role in arguing for far reaching changes across the board – including the testing procedures.

"We believe there should be a total review of the policy whereby many athletes in the world who are clean currently feel they are guilty because of the procedures imposed upon them by WADA and have to prove themselves innocent.

"That's got to change."

If the BOA loses its case at the CAS, it will leave the way clear for Chambers, the world indoor 60 metres champion, and cyclist Millar, the 2010 world time trial silver medallist, to compete at London 2012.

The BOA bylaw pre-dates the WADA code and Moynihan was supported by BOA chief executive and Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt (pictured).

"Someone has to take the lead for what is right," Hunt told insidethegames.

"We are passionate about clean sports and sometimes someone has to stand up and be counted over issues like this.

"We are on track to defend the right of a national committee to select athletes on the basis on which it chooses."

By Andrew Warshaw

Source: www.insidethegames.biz