lundi 8 décembre 2014

IOC backs reforms - new bidding process, TV channel, more sports

Monte Carlo (dpa) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed Monday to a raft of reform measures including a new bidding process to host Olympic Games and the creation of an Olympic television channel.

Members also backed a more flexible sports
programme - removing a cap on 28 sports at summer games - to allow games hosts more freedom on sports events.

All 40 reform proposals put forward by IOC president Thomas Bach received unanimous support the opening day of a two-day extraordinary session of the IOC in Monte Carlo. They are to take place immediately.

In a key reform, members backed a revised bidding system which should lower costs and give more flexibility to cities wishing to host the summer or winter Games.

They also backed the creation of a digital TV channel will promote Olympic sports in the years between the games, costing 600 million dollars to operate over the first seven years.

The channel will be run by the Olympic Broadcasting Services based in Madrid.

"This is a truly historic moment in Olympic history," Bach said after approval for the channel.

To make games bidding more affordable, some events can now be dispersed over several locations within the same country, or even held in a neighbouring country.

Members backed an end to a cap of 28 sports for the summer games and seven for winter games. It could allow baseball and softball - dropped after the 2008 Beijing Games and both popular in Japan - to return at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Host cities will be allowed to propose the inclusion of additional events although the IOC wants to stay within around 10,500 athletes for summer games and 2,900 for winter games.

Bach said host cities requesting certain sports would have to make a proposal to the IOC and present an operational and financial plan.

Among other reforms, future hosts must abide by a clause on non-discrimination to include sexual orientation - introduced following the controversy over Russia's law against gay "propaganda" ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The changes are part of Bach's Agenda 2020 programme to modernize the Olympic movement. They are the most radical changes by the IOC for 15 years, dating back the overhaul of 1999 following the corruption scandal surrounding the award of the winter Olympic Games to Salt Lake City.

Bach hopes a cheaper and more flexible bidding process will help attract future candidates.

The vote also comes after some 50 billion dollars was reportedly spent by Russia for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the withdrawal of several potential candidates for the 2022 winter Olympics, leaving only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, now in the running.

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