Multi-sport

Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) president Giovanni Malago has said officials will press on with Rome’s bid for the 2024 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, as the bid committee expressed its “profound surprise and disappointment” at Mayor Virginia Raggi’s decision to reject the project.

Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi has today (Wednesday) rejected the city’s bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games in a move that effectively spells the end for the Italian capital’s effort to secure the event.

World Anti-Doping Agency president Craig Reedie has said that there would be no “incentive” for the International Olympic Committee to sideline the anti-doping organisation.

The Canadian city of Calgary has formed a committee to discuss a potential bid for the 2026 winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

National Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman has said the impact of the return of its World Cup of Hockey property will not determine whether the North American league continues its participation in the winter Olympic Games.

Rio 2016 chief executive Sidney Levy has said the operating budget for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will require just under $30m (€26.9m) in public funding to meet its final obligations.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has said it is liaising with the “highest level” law enforcement and IT security agencies after confirming the group of Russian cyber hackers known as ‘Fancy Bears’ has leaked another batch of confidential athletes information from its database.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has blamed Russian hackers for posting confidential medical information online about top US Olympians.

Budapest, backed by the Hungarian capital’s bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games, has launched a new Urban Games initiative, while a senior Rome 2024 executive has expressed her confidence that Mayor Virginia Raggi will rally around its bid.

In May, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was unequivocal in his stance on doping. “Protecting the clean athletes is a top priority of the IOC,” he said. “Protecting the clean athletes means on the other hand zero tolerance against doping cheats and their entourage.” Two months later Bach, and the IOC, were faced with a headache that he and the Olympic Movement could certainly have done without.

So once again the experts got it right. It may have gone too close to the wire for comfort, but when it really mattered, Rio delivered as an Olympic host city. Once the cameras started to roll, Rio gave the world unforgettable images and indelible memories of some great sporting moments.

European Olympic Committees (EOC) and Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey is set to stand trial alongside nine other executives after a Rio de Janeiro court accepted prosecutors’ charges in the case surrounding an alleged illegal ticket ring run during the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Tokyo’s newly-elected Governor, Yuriko Koike, has reiterated her determination to slash costs for the Japanese capital’s staging of the 2020 summer Olympic Games, saying she has up to 18 months to come up with a new financial plan.

A group of Italian athletes who competed at the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have written to Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi calling on her not to axe the capital’s bid for the 2024 Games, saying such a move would “close the door on a unique opportunity.”

Rome will bid to host the 2028 summer Olympics if the city pulls out of the race to host the 2024 Games, according to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Patrick Hickey has vowed to clear his name after he was released from a Rio prison but ordered to stay in Brazil pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that he participated in an illegal ticketing ring during the summer Olympic Games.