Quebec City "dropped plans to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics." Mayor Regis Labeaume said Friday that "the city had little chance of winning and questioned whether it was worth investing a considerable sum of money in a bid if it is unlikely to be successful." Labeaume said, "First, you have to ask if we have a very good chance of winning. We cannot answer yes to that question and, if we can't answer yes to that question, then we stop. In any case, we hadn't started. But in my mind, you submit an Olympic bid to win, not just to be in it."
Labeaume read from a letter he said he sent Thursday to IOC President Thomas Bach, "expressing concern that two members of a task force that will evaluate the bids are Swiss." Switzerland "announced it will bid for the 2026 Games" (AP, 5/6).
TATTOOS ALLOWED: Olympic athletes with tattoos "are unlikely to be barred from the Rio Games," the IOC said on Friday after a Paralympic swimmer with his team logo inked onto his chest was banned from a race.
British Gold Medalist Josef Craig was disqualified from a race at last week's IPC European Championships after failing to cover up the tattoo: "the team's lion's head design above the Olympic rings." The Int'l Paralympic Committee said he had breached a rule stating "body advertisements are not allowed in any way whatsoever (this includes tattoos and symbols)" (REUTERS, 5/6).
OLYMPIC BRIEFS ...
Rome 2024 "faces a seminal moment in its efforts to land the Olympic and Paralympic Games" when key officials meet Virginia Raggi, the leading candidate in next month's Mayoral election and a "staunch opponent of the bid." Raggi, who represents the populist Five Star Movement, claimed last month that pressing ahead with a bid at time of economic woe would constitute "mortgaging the future of residents." All other Mayoral candidates "are pro-Rome 2024, including leading contenders Giorgia Meloni from the Conservative Brothers of Italy Party and Roberto Giachetti, who represents the Democratic Party led by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi" (INSIDE THE GAMES, 5/8).
Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates said that sports organizations "will be expected to establish and comply with a child protection policy or their athletes will not be considered for future Games." The announcement by Coates "came on the back of a commitment he made last month to the royal commission on child abuse." Coates said, "Without a member protection policy their athletes cannot compete at the Games. It is not negotiable, we will reject anyone whose sport has not implemented a child protection policy" (REUTERS, 5/8).
