Multi-sport

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has moved to ease concerns over the country’s participation in the 2018 winter Olympic Games by saying that the US will compete “unless it’s legally or physically impossible”.

The White House has insisted that the US is looking forward to participating in the upcoming winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang after comments from Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, sparked confusion around the matter.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko has insisted there was no state involvement in a doping programme surrounding the Sochi 2014 winter Olympics after the International Olympic Committee earlier this week banned Russia from participating at the upcoming 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.

Jürg Stahl, president of Switzerland’s National Olympic Committee, Swiss Olympic, has been installed as the new leader of Sion’s bid for the 2026 winter Olympic and Paralympic Games after Jean-Philippe Rochat resigned having been linked to the Panama Papers case.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today (Wednesday) confirmed the country’s authorities will not seek to boycott the 2018 winter Olympic Games, but questioned the terms of the International Olympic Committee’s sanctions.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved plans from Tokyo 2020 to create “one of the greatest festival districts” in Olympic and Paralympic history through the venues outlined for skateboarding and sport climbing, as well as the two newly-added sports disciplines, basketball 3x3 and BMX freestyle.

The International Olympic Committee yesterday (Tuesday) banned Russia from competing at the upcoming Pyeongchang winter Olympic Games after finding evidence of an “unprecedented systematic manipulation” of doping results surrounding the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) has formed a partnership with the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) to aid implementation of the national plan to fight doping in Russian sport.

Canada’s Sports Minister Kent Hehr has backed plans for Calgary to bid for the 2026 winter Olympics, citing the legacy of the city’s staging of the event in 1988 as a reason to press ahead with the proposal.

Former Synergy chief executive Tim Crow argues the International Olympic Committee has little to lose and everything to gain by taking on the financial burden of a smaller, smarter Olympic Games.

Russia has no plans to boycott the 2018 winter Olympic Games should the International Olympic Committee (IOC) opt to impose restrictions on the country’s participation, a Kremlin spokesman said today (Monday).

Biathlete Olga Zaitseva has today (Friday) become the latest Russian medallist at the Sochi 2014 winter Olympic Games to be handed a life ban, as Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko again issued strong denials regarding the existence of a state-backed doping system.

The International Olympic Committee has today (Thursday) concluded its reanalysis of Russian drug tests from the 2012 summer Olympic Games and sanctioned two further athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has today (Wednesday) sanctioned Russian bobsledders Aleksandr Kas’yanov, Aleksei Pushkarev and Iivir Khuzin amid the ongoing fallout from the doping scandal surrounding the 2014 winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued life bans to a further five Russian athletes, including Sochi 2014 gold medallists Dmitrii Trunenkov and Aleksei Negodailo, as it gave its full backing to the evidence supplied by whistle-blower Grigory Rodchenkov and World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report author Professor Richard McLaren into the doping system in place at Russia’s winter Olympic Games.

The organising committee for the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games has opened its first permanent venue for the sporting spectacle.