Rome’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games "has won a key dispute over three Internet domain names" enabling the Italian capital to launch a new website at www.Roma2024.com. After a successful complaint to int'l arbitrators, the new domain and website "were unveiled Friday." The bid committee said that the new design “breaks with tradition” and welcomes a catchy design, which will gradually be enriched with texts, videos, maps, news and photos.
The bid’s former website "had been at the less intuitive and less desirable domain name 2024Roma.org, a choice forced on organizers after, according to an official complaint to the UDRP -- an international Arbitration Centre for Internet Disputes, they found that another party had registered the preferred domain names and was holding them in bad faith" (GAMES BIDS, 5/30).
Rome 2024 has announced it will stage a 10km running race on Sept. 10, "coinciding with the 56th anniversary of Ethiopian Abebe Bikila’s famous men’s marathon success at the 1960 Olympic Games in Italy's capital while running barefoot."
The event called,
"RUN WITH ROMA 2024," is set to involve the 12 cities that form part of Rome's bid to host the Olympic Games.
Each race "will feature 10 categories, based on the ages of the participants" (INSIDE THE GAMES, 5/31).
Five sports, including baseball, skateboarding and surfing" are set to feature at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after the IOC on Wednesday recommended them to attract a younger audience and boost local support for the Games."
The IOC "now needs to rubber stamp the inclusion of skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing and karate plus the joint baseball/softball bid at its session in Rio de Janeiro in August" (REUTERS, 6/1).