IOC President Thomas Bach called for renewed efforts on Tuesday "to combat corruption and doping, saying recent scandals are undermining the credibility of sports and unfairly casting suspicion on millions of clean athletes." Bach called on all sports organizations to follow rules of "good governance" to prevent the type of corruption cases that have rocked the global governing bodies of football and track and field. In an op-ed piece published in several newspapers around the world, Bach did not "specifically name the scandals enveloping FIFA, the IAAF and Russia's track and field program but the references were clear and unmistakable" (AP, 12/8). ... Canberra Judge Annabelle Bennett has been named to the Court of Arbitration for Sport panel for next year's Rio Olympics "as part of a push for gender equity." The CAS ad-hoc panel "hears all legal disputes that arise during the Olympic Games including doping cases" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/9). ... Tokyo’s Ota Ward on Dec. 7 "adopted an ordinance that allows tourists to stay in vacant apartments and houses to help deal with the expected shortage of accommodations during the 2020 Olympic Games." Osaka Prefecture in October was "the first local government to adopt such an ordinance, but the one approved by the Ota Ward assembly is expected to be the earliest enforced, in January." Osaka Prefecture’s plan is "intended to deal with the ongoing increase in overseas tourists." Ota Ward "is more focused on five years down the road." Hotels and other existing accommodations around Haneda Airport in the ward "are not expected to be able to handle the huge surge in visitors for the Tokyo Olympics" (ASAHI SHIMBUN, 12/8). ... Olympic organizers in Japan said that they have "received more than 14,000 applications for the design of the new logo for the 2020 Tokyo Games" by Monday’s deadline. The emblem selection committee "plans to choose 100 to 200 candidates by the end of the year and will narrow the list down by Jan 9." The "new logo will be unveiled next spring" (JAPAN TODAY, 12/8).
