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Sir Rols

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Posts posted by Sir Rols

  1. New Sports at Brisbane 2032

    in Brisbane 2032 Sports / Events Discussions

    Posted

    Duncan Mackay’s latest take on the summer sports roster, following Nordic Combined’s demise in the winters:

    …

    There are due to be 36 sports on the programme at Los Angeles 2028, following 32 at Paris 2024, but Brisbane 2032, supported by the IOC, wants to cap it at 28.

    There is set to be a lot of horse-trading over the next few months as sports fight to preserve their place on the Olympic programme, while others currently outside the club see an unexpected opportunity to join.

    The demise of Nordic combined has inevitably led to fresh speculation that modern pentathlon is the sport most in danger, as it is an open secret that it finishes bottom of the IOC rankings Games after Games.

    But modern pentathlon is the tardigrade of the Olympic Movement, and you write it off at your peril. 

    As long ago as 2002, an IOC commission recommended dropping modern pentathlon, claiming it was too expensive to practice, had low global participation, and failed to generate strong television ratings.

    That all remains as true now as it did 24 years ago, but modern pentathlon is still here.

    The International Modern Pentathlon Union responded to the threat then by launching an aggressive lobbying campaign that was so effective that then IOC President Jacques Rogge dropped the vote.

    In Rogge’s final months as president in 2013, the IOC Executive Board met again to drop a sport for the Olympics in 2020, with everyone predicting that it would be modern pentathlon, only for wrestling to be chosen in a decision later overturned.

    Then, following the controversy at Tokyo 2020 when a German coach was ejected for hitting a non-cooperative horse, there were fresh fears for modern pentathlon, with it being left off the initial programme for LA28.

    It has survived that latest scare by replacing horse riding with an American Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course, which the UIPM has been promoting heavily ever since. It remains to be seen whether the IOC will give it one more chance.

    Other disciplines that could be left looking over their shoulders include Greco-Roman wrestling, trampoline, race walking and open water swimming.

    Lacrosse and squash, meanwhile, should probably make the most of their appearance at LA28, although flag football will retain optimism that, with the backing of the NFL, they could be more than one-hit wonders. 

    Canoe slalom appears safe for Brisbane 2032, due to the presence of Australia’s triple gold medallist and IOC Athletes’ Commission member Jessica Fox, but faces an uncertain future with later Olympics to be encouraged to avoid expensive building projects leaving no legacy.

    Canoe slalom courses are among the most expensive venues to build for the Olympics, due to the need to construct artificial whitewater rivers and install massive high-powered water pumps using millions of gallons of water.

    They are also notoriously difficult and expensive to maintain and, while some successfully transition into recreational water parks or public swimming facilities, like London’s Lee Valley White Water Centre, others have been largely abandoned or operated at significant financial losses after the Games.

    The IOC want to ensure they are not accused of leaving host cities with expensive white elephants and may only sanction canoe slalom for future Games if there is already an existing facility or officials can demonstrate they have a clear legacy plan for it.

    The criteria, however, could be a positive development for emerging sports like padel or pickleball, whose popularity has exploded in recent years.

    In the past, federations would have had to spend years, if not decades, developing relationships and lobbying the IOC to be given the opportunity just to begin a conversation about one day maybe becoming an Olympic sport.

    But if a discipline like synchro9 can be added just six months after being created, that gives hope to every new kid on the block.

    Only after the IOC has gone through its process and confirmed the programme for Brisbane 2032, will the Australian organisers be able to add the sports they want to, which will be restricted to four.

     

    Cricket is certain to be one, but what does the Nordic combined decision mean for netball, one of the other potential Brisbane 2032 picks?

    “Back the Bid: It’s Netball’s Time,” a campaign rallying fans, players, and participants to sign a global pledge to convince the IOC, is gathering momentum and the sport’s inclusion in Brisbane 2032 would be a massively popular one in Australia.

    But netball is traditionally a female-only sport and the biggest hurdle to its Olympic inclusion.

    Campaigners are trying to flip the narrative by claiming that because male-dominated sports historically received preferential treatment at the Olympics, adding a major female sport would send a powerful message about taking women’s sports seriously, while also helping the IOC reach its 50/50 parity target. They are trying to frame this as “gender positive”. 

    With the new model, anything and everything could be on the table for discussion.

  6. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted

    4 hours ago, StefanMUC said:

    Oh tonight already? That‘s how well I know my schedule! ¡Vámonos!

    And I woke up and it was all done. Congrats on getting through.

    And next up, two who I’m not sure are even aware them in the draw - @Hightowerio86 v @Durban Sandshark. One of you is going to make the semis at least.

    Hold on… am I right that we actually have a double header tomorrow - @Guilga versus @Swiss Rols right after the battle of the North Sea? C’mon boys, we may not row, but we can yodel!

    • Like 1

  7. Time to kick muddah-f*cking Russia out once & for all?

    in General Olympics Discussion

    Posted

    10 hours ago, cfm Jeremie said:

    I thought the initial approach of "individual Olympic Athletes" was probably the most balanced option: sanctioning the country but not necessarily the indiviual athletes. But there was some hypocrisy in allowing Individual Olympic Athletes in principles whilst preventing athletes from Russia taking part in LA28 qualification process. There was also the risk of losing to CAS in case a blank ban was maintained (as happened for FIS prior to Milano Cortina). I hope, and that might be wishful thinking, that, at the very least, Russian athletes won't be able to participate under their flag and that no national anthem will be played.

    The trouble with the “Individual Olympic Athletes” was that it was a well-meaning compromise to appease the “don’t punish the athletes” side, but really ended up not pleasing either side. And it left the Russian athletes availing themselves of it at risk of earning Putin’s wrath.

    I certainly share your hope that the flag and anthem still remain banned, as well as your fear that that’s probably wishful thinking.

     

     

    Quote

     

    Finally, it is worth reminding that, at this stage, IOC still has a ban on Russia hosting IOC-event (including the Games). 

    So "Saint-Petersburgh being a clear favourite for 2036" is really a non-starter at this stage.

     


    Beyond that, even immediately pre-2022 I don’t think a Russian hosting was viable or palatable enough to be entertained. Today, Russia’s reputation and standing within the IOC is nowhere near rehabilitated enough for “St Petersburg 2036” to be even remotely considered. Could you imagine the sheer outrage of the European and friendly western NOCs if it even applied for future dialogue status at this stage? It’s unthinkable in the present climate. Wait till after Vlad’s State Funeral.

  9. Time to kick muddah-f*cking Russia out once & for all?

    in General Olympics Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Swiss Rols

    Firstly, let me just say that Russia thoroughly deserved its ban, for its doping record alone, much less what it’s been wreaking in the Ukraine. And I certainly don’t trust that it’s learnt any lessons and will do anything to reform itself. Not while Putin’s in power.

    That said, I do have some sympathy to the charges of hypocrisy. Why just Russia when you can point to what Israel is doing in Gaza… and Lebanon.. and elsewhere? And when Trump is always ready to unleash the bombers whenever his mood, or polls, trigger him? And, yes, sure the counter argument goes “but Russia launched its war during an Olympic truce and then appropriated his victims’ NOCs”, but let’s face it, that was more justification after the fact. The ban was basically forced on Bach after the indignation of the mainly European NOCs and IFs at the initial invasion.

    And I can… I won’t say support but at least understand… Coventry’s aim to keep politics out of it and “not punish athletes for the actions of their government”. But sport snd politics have always been intertwined, and the IOC has always wrung itself in knots throughout its history trying to balance ideals with hard political realities. As I’ve said before, the contradiction of the Olympics is that it promotes itself as internationalist, while its whole structure encourages hyper-nationalism. And how would Coventry’s “no politics” policy have played out in the 1970s and 1980s when sports’ most successful ban and boycott, against Apartheid South Africa, was instituted? As a former willing poster girl for Robert Mugabe’s regime, Coventry should know better than most how such regimes like to prop themselves up and rehabilitate their reputations through sports-washing. But maybe that’s the whole point, she’s long learned how to turn a blind eye and absolve herself, snd sport, of any responsibility.

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  15. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Bear said:

    at least i didnt get england

    Lol, I’m glad too.

    Honest to God, these were all done randomly, but as always threw up a few ironic results.

    i laughed when I saw Rob had drawn the “National of Braindead Dead C*nts”

    Krow always seems to get “good” teams in these sweeps - and his luck held on again this time with Brazil

    i also laughed when Guilga got Argentina (actually, I did the draw before the last night’s matches, so it was a toss-up between Argentina and Cape Verde, and to my utter disbelief it looked for a long while that Cape Verde may have saved him from Argentina)

    ‘Egypt saved Yoshi from supporting Australia - I thought he might have enjoyed taking the opposite side of the Ashes for once.

    Baron almost got his wish for Spain. Spain and Paraguayan and Stefan and Baron were the last slips I had left in the hats. But the two S’s got drawn together. Maybe next time M.

  16. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted · Edited by Sir Rols

    And with the final whistle knocking Ghana out, we have a Round of 16

    And having put all the names who volunteered plus a bunch who I’ve drafted (based mainly on participation in the main WC thread), I can reveal the following draw:

    Paraguay - @baron-pierreIV

    France - @Palette86

    Canada - @cfm Jeremie

    Morocco - @Bear

    Portugal - @sebastien1214

    Spain - @StefanMUC 

    USA -- @Rob2012

    Belgium - @Faster

    Brazil - @krow

    Norway - @Hightowerio86

    Mexico - @Ikarus360

    England - @Durban Sandshark

    Argentina - @Guilga

    Egypt - @yoshi

    Switzerland - @Sir Rols

    Colombia - @GBModerator

    spacer.pngGood luck with your new teams everyone! Enjoy the rest of the tournament and may the best team win!

    • Like 4

  18. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted

    Okay, only three more matches to go to fill out those final Round of 16 team spots. Which means it’s now the last chance for anyone who wants to claim one of those teams as their own to put your hand up. By the time the final whistle blow on that third match tomorrow I’ll be rounding up likely suspects to fill any slots still vacant.

  21. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted

    Oh, you sweet summer children. There seems to be some misapprehension that you get to CHOOSE your teams *fiendish giggle*

     Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s all up to the Fates - I’ll either draw your names randomly randomly out of a literal hat to match you up with remaining teams, or I’ll find a bit of free software off the internet to do it for me.

    Think of it as your second team for the rest of the tournament - I’m hoping I get the mighty Bosnia-Herzegovina myself, my sweep team from… what was it?… 2010? or 2014? Of course you’ll still have your own personal sympathies and prejudices to follow s well as your sweep team.

    At the end, the only prize is the person who gets assigned the ultimate winning team wins. In Australian (and I assume British) workplaces you usually win money too - you pay your quid to enter an office sweep, and the winner(s) get to split the spoils.

    we seem to have nine of 16 spots now subscribed, so we’re looking forw seven more to sign up willingly before the Round of 32 ends. After which I’ll begin drafting names to fill the remaining spots. Any participation in the main WC thread will put you in the firing line.

    • Like 1

  22. IOC sets target to elect 2036 Olympics host in 2029 under new bid process

    in GB Newswire

    Posted

    I was piqued by the little aside that Bach was all set to award 2036 to Ahmedabad as his parting “gift”, but Kirsty quickly put paid to that.

    She certainly hasn’t been the Mini-Me Bach was grooming her to be. I’ve got to give her some kudos. I’d give her presidency a mixed rating so far. Tearing down the “New Norm” was essential and all credit to her. But she seems to be in a rush to appease Russia though, and her whole anti-trans decrees are a bit ham-fisted (though I guess it was about the only platform she publicly campaigned on).

  23. IOC sets target to elect 2036 Olympics host in 2029 under new bid process

    in GB Newswire

    Posted

    I’m liking Duncan Mackay’s take on it…

    Coventry’s rewind consigns Bach’s Olympic bid reforms to the history books

    Full test in spoiler below

     

    Spoiler

    A change in IOC leadership has seen the process to choose a host city for the Games revert closer to its previous model after the new system left too much power in the hands of one individual

    It must be hard, having spent over half of your life dreaming of getting to the top position, then more than another 10 years carefully implementing all the ideas you have formulated in that period, only to see many of them swept away in 12 months by your successor, who you had hand-picked because you believed they would protect your legacy.

    But that is what has happened to Thomas Bach, who last week had to sit on the top table for two days at the International Olympic Committee Extraordinary Session in Lausanne and was forced to watch as new President Kirsty Coventry continued to roll back many of the reforms that the German was so proud of introducing during his 12-year presidency.

    Coventry told the Zeus Files that Bach, appointed as the IOC’s Honorary President following her election last year, was “very supportive” of her proposed reforms, but during the Session his body language told a very different story as he observed much of what was happening with his arms tightly crossed and, in the words of one IOC member, like he was “sucking on a lemon”.

    The decision to overhaul the selection framework to choose host cities for the Olympics and revert to a process similar to the one in place before Bach was elected IOC President in 2013, will have particularly upset him.

    Bach’s election in Buenos Aires had come a few days after Tokyo had been elected to host the 2020 Olympics and two years after Pyeongchang had won the right to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics in a campaign that saw Munich, the bid that he had led, comprehensively beaten.

    Munich’s defeat, in particular, had left him bitter and shaped many of the views he later implemented as he rewrote the rule book in his own autocratic way.

    Bach’s main criticisms included claiming that the procedure treated bid cities “like a tender for a business or franchise”, resulting in repetitive presentations and “too many losers”.

    Bach also claimed that the model forced cities to rely heavily on expensive international consultants, complaining that too often bid books sounded exactly the same no matter the region. He vowed to “change this mentality.”

    The overhaul of the bid process was central to Bach’s much-vaunted Olympic Agenda 2020, his strategic roadmap to reform the future of the IOC, officially introduced a year after his election.

    Under the plan, rather than running a worldwide public campaign to promote their bids, cities that expressed an interest in hosting the Olympics were invited to an “invitation phase”.

    Many of the sentiments of Bach’s new system were noble - such as prioritising sustainability, feasibility, and local development, allowing cities to adapt the Games to their existing infrastructure rather than the other way around - but very quickly it became clear that transparency was being sacrificed in the name of reform.

    As Bach sat in the SwissTech Convention Center listening to Coventry outlining the new process, he could have been forgiven for allowing his mind to wander back to the same venue almost exactly nine years earlier when, at the 130th IOC Session, he pulled off a noteworthy coup by engineering the joint award of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics to Paris and Los Angeles, respectively.

    A series of withdrawals from the campaign for the 2024 Olympics, including Hamburg, Rome and Budapest, had left Paris and LA as the only cities left still in the race and Bach seized upon the opportunity to initiate talks between the two and broker a deal for a joint award for those Games and 2028.

    Bach was in his element those two days, especially with the arrival of newly elected French President, Emmanuel Macron, who travelled with his wife, Brigitte, to personally deliver the formal Candidate City document to IOC members.

    At the end of the Session, Bach invited the mayors of LA and Paris, Eric Garcetti and Anne Hidalgo, onto the stage where they signalled their desire to reach an agreement on sharing the award of the Games as the IOC President lifted their hands into the air and hailed a “golden opportunity”.

    It precisely fitted the new model that Bach wanted to promote; two world-famous cities with strong plans to stage events that mirrored Olympic Agenda 2020. There were no losers, only winners.

    Paris 2024 staged an exceptional Olympics - maybe the best in history - while LA28 is expected to put on another spectacular show befitting a city that is home to Hollywood.

    Perhaps that is because both cities were forced to undergo full bid campaigns, where their plans and proposals were fully evaluated and challenged by the IOC, with the decision to hand them the Games without having to face a proper contested vote only coming at the end of that process.

    Subsequent decisions by Bach to award the 2032 Olympics to Brisbane and 2030 Winter Olympics to the French Alps were taken without either bid having to present proper plans that were closely scrutinised.

    The result has been chaotic preparations characterised by poor planning by both hosts, negative headlines and extra burden placed on the IOC staff.

    Brisbane being awarded the Olympics was such a secret that the majority of IOC members had no idea it was even being considered until I exclusively broke the story on insidethegames in February 2021.

    Those shocked at the opacity included Bach’s fellow Germans after it killed their country’s hopes of bidding for the 2032 Olympics.

    “The new selection system, praised by IOC president Thomas Bach as ‘more cost-effective and apolitical, and also preventing any unacceptable influence’ can hardly be surpassed in terms of non-transparency,” said Dagmar Freitag, chair of the parliamentary sports commission of Germany’s lower house, the Bundestag.

    Athletes Germany spokesperson Max Hartung struck a similar note, when he said, “If the process is incomprehensible, then distrust and suspicion of arbitrary decisions arise.”

    There is not one person in the Olympic Movement who does not believe that Brisbane being awarded the Games without having to go through the traditional bid process was a golden thank-you to key Bach ally John Coates, IOC vice-president and president of the Australian Olympic Committee at the time.

    It is widely believed that Bach also tried to award the 2036 Olympics to India last year in his final few weeks before stepping down as president of the IOC until Coventry made it clear that she could not support such a move.

    Casting a vote to elect the host city is one of the major privileges of being an IOC member, an honour largely stripped away from them under Bach, with him having turned the Session into little more than a rubber-stamping chamber.

    Coventry had pledged during her election campaign for IOC President to restore that right, and the reforms she unveiled as part of her “Fit for the Future” initiative last week are the first part of keeping that promise.

    A multi-step dialogue process to determine future Games hosts, starting with the 2036 Olympics, has been introduced. The new rules feature structured, phased dialogues, earlier financial commitments, and a return to electing hosts seven years in advance.

    Following the continuous dialogue stage already in place to engage with interested bidders to explore hosting opportunities without commitment, a new strategic dialogue stage will be added to allow the IOC Executive Board to shortlist a number of bids they rule are serious candidates.

    The IOC revealed that they have up to ten cities and regions interested in bidding for 2036, including from India, Qatar, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt and Germany. 

    These proposals are now set to be evaluated by the IOC’s Future Host Commission via a series of questionnaire responses and site visits with the aim of drawing up a list to enter the strategic dialogue to be announced by the end of next March.

    These are expected to be presented to the next IOC Session, due to take place at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, at the end of April.

    In late 2028, the IOC Executive Board is due to select preferred hosts for targeted dialogue following even closer scrutiny of bids, including financial guarantees, government support and overall plans, with at least two expected to be put forward for a final vote by the members at the Session the following year.

    “All stakeholders wanted greater transparency with clearer timelines and evaluation criteria, and a more gradual progression through the dialogue stages,” IOC Future Host Commission chair Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović told the IOC Session last week during a presentation.

    Grabar-Kitarović did retain a little bit of the old Bach thinking, though, when she added that the new proposals should recognise “transparency and legacy and continuity to recognise unsuccessful finalists as strong potential candidates for future Games”.

    When the Zeus Files asked Croatia's former president how, in a process that would end with one city being chosen over another, with several having initially entered the competition, the IOC could avoid “too many losers”, Grabar-Kitarović admitted she did not know.

    “If you have any ideas, please let me know,” she said.

    Bach is fully on board with these changes, Coventry claimed.

    “Honorary President Bach has been supportive,” she told the Zeus Files. “He left the Olympic Movement in an incredibly strong position to evolve, but it’s normal in any organisation’s evolution to take stock of where we are - to re-adjust, re-align and decide where the movement should be.

    “We have made decisions during the last 12 years, and we have learnt from them, which is important, or we become irrelevant.

    “We owe it to the athletes of the Olympic Movement to ask if we can do something better. We have to be agile enough to say we hear you. How do we fix it? How can we do it better?”

    Duncan Mackay, the Zeus Files

     

    • Like 2
    • Confused 1

  24. Pilgrimages…

    in General Off-Topic Discussion

    Posted

    I’ve just spent six weeks mostly in France, and towards the end, Italy. But I did make a side trip to Greece within that. And of course I had to make some pilgrimages to some Olympic holy sites…

    spacer.png

    Panathenaic stadium, Athens…

    spacer.png

    … and Olympia Antica

    Two days back now, but I’m already missing European heatwaves.

    PS: I tried to find the site of your grand-père‘s heart @baron-pierreIV, but by the time I figured where it was, it was just too damned hot to walk there in the blazing sun. Maybe next time.

    • Like 4

  25. The GamesBids WC 2026 Round of 16 Sweepstakes

    in FIFA World Cup / Bids

    Posted

    I’ve had a request to resurrect a GamesBids tradition and get a sweep going for the World Cup. I’ve been travelling through the group stages, and I doubt we could have filled 48 slots anyway, but now we’ve come to the business end of the tournament, I reckon a sweep for the Round of 16 is probably viable and doable.

    Basically, just nominate you want to be in it before the Round of 16 starts next Sunday, and I’ll draw you a team from those left standing (atm Canada’s the only one confirmed). That’s all you need to do. After that you can do what you want with your allocated/adopted team - change your username or sig or just cheer it on as we weave our way towards the final.

    So far I’m counting myself, @Palette86, @Rob2012, @krow and I’m nominating @yoshi as in. So that just leaves 11 spots to fill. Just post here that you want to be in by next Sunday. If we fall short, I’ll draft some likely names myself. And I’ll do up a draw before the Ro16 starts.

    Come in and join and hopefully have a little fun! :D

    • Like 1
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