Australian Olympic Committee Athlete Flight Rules For Rio Challenged…..Kristina Keneally, former NSW premier and former head of Basketball Australia, insists that the AOC’s travel protocol is threatening the high performance of its athletes. Federal Sports Minister Sussan Ley recently announced that major sports must provide equal travel arrangements for both male and female athletes, or the sports will lose federal funding. According to Keneally, this rule may cause Olympians to arrive in Rio “cramped, tired or injured because they were not allowed to shop around for the best airfares at the lowest price.” She cites how a Qantas business class fare to the London Olympics cost about $12,000, whereas a different airline was offering the same service for $5,000 and sports were prohibited from purchasing the cheaper option. The AOC practice of booking Olympic athletes only on sponsor airline Qantas meant “peak bodies were fighting with both hands tied behind their backs.” The AOC will pay Qantas $2100 to fley each athlete and official economy class to Rio, with no cost to the individual sports bodies. If any teams want to fly business class, stop in another country for training, then they must pay the commercial rates and subsidize the difference.
Tokyo 2020 Logo Plagiarism Suit Dropped…..We reported last August how Belgian designer, Olivier Debie, came forward claiming that Japanese artist Kenjiro Sano actually plagiarized the original Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo. Debie threatened to take the International Olympic Committee to court over the logo looking too much like the emblem he had made for a theater in the eastern Belgian city of Liege. He cited copyright infringement to which the IOC and Tokyo Games organizers responded saying that the theater’s emblem was not trademarked. Debie has decided to waive their lawsuit, thus the issue can be put to rest. The IOC and Tokyo 2020 maintain that there was no moral rights nor copyright infringement.
Williston Northampton School Announces New Club….Williston Northampton School in Massachusetts has announced the formation of a new club swimming team called the Williston Aquatics Club. Former Greater Holyoke YMCA Vikings Coach Nick Rice will move into the role as head coach of Williston, with the club operating year-round. Rice was recently recognized as 2015’s Age Group Coach of the Year by New England Swimming. Mark Conroy, Williston’s Director of Athletics said, “This will potentially be a great resource for top swimmers from the region, and will help Williston attract elite swimmers who are looking for a top flight swim program and education.” The club is officially slated to launch in late March.
Stricter Australian Anti-Doping Laws…..The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) have collaborated on what they call their nation’s ‘most intensive anti-doping program of any Australian Olympic team to date.’ In addition to targeted testing, online and face-to-face educational programs were also undertaken, aimed at protecting Australia’s reputation in sport. ASADA Chief Ben McDevitt said, “Athletes in different sports could benefit from different substances taken at different times, and the testing schedule for our aspiring Olympians and Paralympians is highly targeted to reflect that.” He continued, “The international spotlight is firmly on doping allegations in sport at the moment, so it is extremely important for Australia to protect our reputation as a nation of fair sport and maintain our strong stance against doping. In the lead up to the Games, it is equally important to ensure that no clean athletes miss out on being selected to compete in Rio because their place was taken by an athlete who doped.” He said, “The programmes are as much about prevention as they are about catching any athletes who are doing the wrong thing.”