The "most powerful people in the Olympic movement" have urged the U.S. to "quickly find a replacement for Boston and push ahead" with plans to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, according to Julian Linden of REUTERS. The U.S. was "widely regarded as the favorite" for '24. Boston "pulled the plug on the bid last week because of a lack of support." With the deadline for applications due in mid-September, "the decision left America racing against time to decide on another bidder." IOC President Thomas Bach was quick to tell the U.S. to "find a replacement" and now "highly influential" Association of National Committees (ANOC) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah "has joined him." Sheikh Ahmad said, "I think everybody in the movement would like to see the five rings bidding for the Games from the United States." L.A. is "widely regarded" as the favorite but Sheikh Ahmad said that "any American bid would be a strong candidate." He said, "This is a matter for USOC. I hope they will decide ... to have a city bidding, it would be good for the Games" (REUTERS, 8/3).
BLATTER GIVES UP IOC MEMBERSHIP: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported Bach said on Monday that FIFA President Sepp Blatter "was relieved" of
his IOC ex officio membership on Monday,
seven months before he will be replaced as the head of FIFA. Blatter
would "ordinarily have been re-elected for another eight-year term as a
procedural matter at the ongoing IOC Session in Malaysia," along with
more than a dozen other members, but "would be required to stand down
when he left FIFA at the end of February." Bach: "Mr. Blatter wrote me a letter on July 23 informing me that it would be inappropriate to seek another eight-year term as he was retiring from his position at FIFA in seven months when a new president will be selected on Feb. 26" (REUTERS, 8/3). The AP reported two other IOC members were not re-elected due to age restrictions -- former World Archery President Jim Easton and Colombia's Andrés
Botero (AP, 8/3).
HORSE DISEASE HITS RIO: In Auckland, Laura McQuillan reported Kiwi sporting officials "want answers" from Olympic organizers after "a deadly horse disease was discovered at the Rio 2016 equestrian venue." Two horses from the site tested positive for highly-contagious Glanders disease in April but int'l health officials and sport bodies "were kept in the dark." The issue has been "thrust into the spotlight just days before horses and riders descend on Rio de Janeiro for next week's Olympic venue test." Organizers "promise the horses will be safe, even though tests are ongoing." Equestrian Sports New Zealand had no knowledge of the situation "until contacted by the Herald on Sunday." Equestrian Sports NZ High Performance Dir Sarah Dalziell said that national sporting bodies "should have been alerted" by both the Rio 2016 committee and Int'l Equestrian Federation (FEI). Dalziell: "We would have expected to have heard about it when they found the first outbreak, in all honesty, and what they were doing to manage it in the lead-up to the test event" (NZ HERALD, 8/2).
RIO ORDERS TESTING: EUROSPORT's Toby Keel reported normally, venues only test for bacteria -- but Rio's waters will be tested for viruses as well after an AP report showed "high counts of viruses directly linked to human sewage in the Olympic waters." Bach confirmed on Monday that pollution would be discussed with Rio 2016 officials. Rio officials have started test events, including sailing, as
they prepare competition venues for the first Olympics to be held on the
South American continent. Bach: "We have been informed by them (Brazilian officials) that they
did the tests in accordance with the guidelines of WHO (World Health
Organisation)" (EUROSPORT, 8/3). Grohmann reported in a separate piece Bach said that the water quality for competitors "will be on the agenda" when the IOC travels to Brazil for talks this week. The waters along Rio's Atlantic coast, "including Guanabara Bay where sailing events will be held, have been polluted for years and successive governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars" on attempted clean-ups to "little effect." Bach said, "The water pollution is a topic. What
we have there and you have seen the test events going on, water tests
are up to the Brazilian authorities" (REUTERS, 8/3).
