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Unbeaten records are special and don’t usually last long in the UFC.
Fighting in the premiere MMA organization, it’s hard to thrive without setbacks here and there. UFC bantamweight Daniel Marcos knows he’s one of the few still yet to taste defeat in the UFC, but by no means does he let that pressure him. It’s quite the opposite, actually. It motivates him.
“I think getting to see that record is a good thing because it’s an indicator that I’m doing things well, and I’m truly doing everything the best way possible,” Marcos told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “That’s also due to the great team around me. It’s not just me. It’s a good indicator that we’re doing things well, but the truth is that when I step in the cage, I don’t think or see a record, nothing.
“I get up there, and I’m fighting at 0-0. I step in against whoever I need to fight, and I’m 0-0. But yes, that indicator shows me I’m doing well and that I need to keep working hard. That’s all it means.”
Marcos (15-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) returns Saturday at UFC Fight Night 231 at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He fights Victor Hugo (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at the event which streams on ESPN+.
The Peruvian fighter acknowledges it’s a tough ask fighting a Brazilian at home, but he’s determined to get his third UFC win and get one step closer to the rankings.
“Victor Hugo is someone who just entered the UFC, and that’s all I know,” Marcos said. “I saw a few of his fights and that’s all. I know getting to the UFC is not easy, and I know that everyone here is training hard and everyone is a tough fight. For me, UFC is the highest level of MMA. Whoever I get, I know they’re always going to be ready. What I can say is that Victor Hugo has yet to face someone like me. I’m coming out to show how hard I’ve been training and where I’m trying to get. I’m not going to give him a chance of winning. I’m going to be on him, and I’m looking to squash him.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231. | MMA |
Less than 24 hours after finding a huge replacement for the UFC 294 main event, the promotion has once again pulled off a marquee short-notice change for the co-feature bout.
Paulo Costa was originally scheduled to compete against Khamzat Chimaev in the co-feature of the pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi, but will not be medically cleared to compete due to a staph infection. Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) will remain on the card, and will now face former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman who is stepping up on 10 days’ notice for the middleweight bout.
UFC CEO Dana White officially announced the new matchup Wednesday on social media.
Usman, 36, moves up to middleweight following back-to-back welterweight title fight losses to current champion Leon Edwards. Prior to the consecutive losses, Usman (20-3 MMA, 15-2 UFC) reigned longly over the 170-pound division and racked up five title defenses. He has not competed since UFC 286 in March.
Chimaev, 29, has not fought for even longer. His most recent win was vs. Kevin Holland at UFC 279 in September. Chimaev missed weight before the bout. After some discussion between his team and the UFC brass, Chimaev ultimately elected to move up to middleweight, where he already has two wins in the UFC.
Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who is in Abu Dhabi, also revealed in a since-deleted social media post that he will have to undergo a second elbow procedure, just weeks after he had an initial one for a right arm bursa.
I am doing everything in my power to fight gourmet Chen Chen here in Abu Dhabi. Possible and impossible. The shit is that Staphylococcus infection is no joke, I had it in Brazil 8 weeks ago and took antibiotics for 10 days to kill it. It seemed resolved so I came to Abudhabi but it came back worse than before. 5 weeks before the fight there was necessarily surgery to clean everything and take another 14 days of antibiotics. I told them to let me fight because I’m extremely well conditioned. Even though I used 1 arm to train for 14 days until I had 10 stitches removed in my right elbow, the doctors were worried about all the anesthesia and medication I was taking, but they gave me a chance and I did my best to overcome myself, training everything without my right arm., and you know what, I was happy just to fight and do something that seemed crazy possible. Now the doctors came and told me that it was necessary to REOPEN a smaller place because the bacteria was still there and had developed resistance. After the update, there is no way to release doctors for fight 21
My team keeps it clear since first moment with UFC all these things and the peoples from UFC gave me all support, they tried their best as well paying for surgery and everything here in abudhabi, thanks UFC and whole staff for support.
For those whom said I pulled out go fuck u self. I never pulled out, I just didn’t agreed to fights that I NEVER signed up for and neither miss weight we both agreed 205.
I need 3 weeks to be cleared in doctors opinion. I just wait this fight the entire year, so I hope to fight before the end of 2023. See u 🙌🧃
The co-main event switch-up comes less than 24 hours after White announced the previously scheduled main event between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira was off and that Alexander Volkanovski would replace Oliveira, who suffered a cut in training Monday.
With the change, the UFC 294 fight card includes:
- Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for lightweight title
- Kamaru Usman vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Muin Gafurov vs. Said Nurmagomedov
- Tim Elliott vs. Muhammad Mokaev
- Trevor Peek vs. Mohammad Yahya
- Javid Basharat vs. Victor Henry
- Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
- Mike Breeden vs. Anshul Jubli
- Muhammad Naimov vs. Nathaniel Wood
- Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Jinh Yu Frey
- Shara Magomedov vs. Bruno Silva
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294. | MMA |
Jailton Almeida, currently ranked No. 9 in the UFC's heavyweight division, recognizes a golden opportunity and is eager to grasp it. Even before his main event battle against Derrick Lewis at UFC Sao Paulo on Saturday, he told Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole he already was thinking about the future.
"I aspire to be the backup for UFC 295," Almeida said earlier this week. Heavyweights Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich will fight for the interim title in the co-main event of that card after champion Jon Jones was injured and forced to cancel his fight against ex-champion Stipe Miocic.
Almeida's determination is no joke, despite the fact that he's about to face Lewis, the UFC's record-holder for knockouts. Every fighter understands the perils of looking beyond their immediate opponent, but winning significant bouts can only enhance Almeida's career.
This showdown with Lewis marks Almeida's first encounter with a Top 10 opponent, arriving at an opportune time. While Lewis may not be the same fighter he once was, his recent 33-second first-round knockout of Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC 291 in July solidifies his rank at No. 10 and fuels his ambition to climb back up the rankings with hopes of another shot at the championship.
Follow the entire card below with Yahoo Sports as we bring you the latest results and highlights from Brazil.
Former UFC champions Michael Bisping and Dominick Cruz along with UFC announcer Brendan Fitzgerald are on the call tonight from Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
First fight of the night is a lightweight bout between Brazil's Kaue Fernandes (-190) and England's Marc Diakiese (+160).
How to watch UFC Sao Paulo without cable:
ESPN+
Stream UFC Sao Paulo
Date: Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023
Prelims time: 6 p.m. ET
Main card time: 9 p.m. ET
Location: Ginasio Do Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Streaming: ESPN+
Where to stream UFC Fight Night this weekend
ESPN+
Order UFC Sao Paulo: Derrick Lewis vs. Jailton Almeida through ESPN+
UFC Sao Paulo: Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis main card results, odds (Start time 9 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
• Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis (+375) vs. Jailton Almeida (-500)
• Welterweight: Gabriel Bonfim (-625) vs. Nicolas Dalby (+445)
• Heavyweight: Rodrigo Nascimento (-200) vs. Don'tale Mayes (+165)
• Middleweight: Caio Borralho (-300) vs. Abus Magomedov (+240)
• Middleweight: Rodolfo Vieira (-105) vs. Armen Petrosyan (-115)
UFC Sao Paulo: Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis prelims card results, odds, highlights (Live now on ESPN+)
• Lightweight: Elves Brener (-210) vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky (+170)
• Welterweight: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (+280) vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov (-360)
• Light heavyweight: Vitor Petrino (-265) vs. Modestas Bukauskas (+215)
• Women's strawweight: Angela Hill (+115) vs. Denise Gomes (-135)
• Women's strawweight: Eduarda Moura (-650) vs. Montserrat Conejo Ruiz (+450)
• Lightweight: Kaue Fernandes (-190) vs. Marc Diakiese (+160)
Why you can trust us: We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we believe in. Pricing and availability are subject to change. | MMA |
Jamahal Hill’s UFC light heavyweight title is officially vacated.
Hill (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) suffered an Achilles tendon injury in a pickup basketball game in July which required surgery. He opted to relinquish his belt, which was just made official when Jiri Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Alex Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) were booked in a vacant light heavyweight title bout this week in the UFC 295 co-headliner.
Hill explains how the process went down.
“We’ll see who will sit as the steward on the throne until the king returns,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “It brings up some feelings. Now, this would officially vacate me as the champion. I believe a lot of people were confused about the process and how that works. The reason being is whenever Jiri vacated the belt, it was pretty much immediate because they already had a fight announced to fill that vacancy.”
Hill was planning on defending his belt against both Prochazka and Pereira, and is bummed out that one of them could be eliminated from the title picture after UFC 295.
“They’re definitely two fighters that I wanted to meet in my reign as champion,” Hil said. “And I do still plan to meet upon my return. I just kind of hate the fact that one kind of has to cancel the other out. For me personally, the best thing that could happen would be like, I don’t know, a controversial type deal, something weird happening.
“I don’t know. So, that way they kind of keep their value intact for both to where I can just come back and do my thing, but it is what it is. I’m healing up, I’m coming along, doing physical therapy twice a day, just getting back to it.”
Hill says he will be in attendance for Prochazka vs. Pereira at Madison Square Garden in New York, and plans on reminding the winner that he’s not going anywhere.
“I plan on being there,” Hill said. “I’m going to go, I’m going to watch, I’m going to see what happens, and I’ll look the next man in the eye and let him see what’s coming. I don’t really have to say nothing. I can give you a look and you know everything you need to know. I just can’t wait to be back.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295. | MMA |
Ruffy (9-1) stopped Raimond Magomedaliev (10-2) by third-round TKO on Tuesday at the UFC Apex, keeping his 100 percent career finish rate intact.
Having competed at lightweight and welterweight throughout his career, Ruffy is open to both divisions in his pursuit of gold.
“I think any of the divisions, I can see myself in any of them,” Ruffy told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at the DWCS 65 post-fight press conference. “I’m going to sit down, talk to my coaches, talk to my managers and see what’s going on. But I see myself in both of them.
“I just want to work, I came here to work. It’s such a long time to be able to be here, and that makes me want to work so much. File this to the UFC drawers and files, this guy said, ‘I want to be a champion of the UFC.’ I’m going to be a champion of the UFC. One day you’re going to look back, and I’ll say, ‘I told you so.'”
Despite the lackluster start to his fight with Magomedaliev, Ruffy was confident that his finish was contract-worthy, as he thinks the action picked up towards the end.
“I was very confident when the fight ended because it was an exciting fight,” Ruffy said. “I understand it was kind of lukewarm first round, then the second round things kind of got exciting, but I think people liked it. We were actually able to put on a show towards the end and I felt confident after it happened.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 65. | MMA |
Had Aljamain Sterling beaten Sean O’Malley earlier this month, the options for Alexander Volkanovski might have looked a lot different.
A win for Sterling may have had him ready to leave the bantamweight division for a move to featherweight – and historically, the UFC loves those champ-vs.-champ matchups, so Volkanovski may have been set to put his featherweight title on the line against Sterling.
Sterling still might move up to featherweight after his loss to O’Malley, but he no longer would be an automatic contender for a fight with the 145-pound champ. Instead, Volkanovski (26-2 MMA, 13-1 UFC) still likely is looking at either a fight with unbeaten top contender Ilia Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who hasn’t been shy with his thoughts about the Australian, or a rematch with lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC), who handed Volkanovski his only octagon loss at UFC 284 in February.
Volkanovski beat interim champ Yair Rodriguez to unify the featherweight belts in July. Topuria is coming off a dominant win over Josh Emmett. But Makhachev’s win over Volkanovski in February was close enough that there’s still an argument to be made for a rematch, even if it keeps the featherweight title on hold. At one point, Volkanovski seemed to be leaning toward Makhachev. But what’s the latest, and what makes most sense?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura break all that down with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below. | MMA |
LAS VEGAS – UFC CEO Dana White is adamant that boxing would only ruin the experience at Sphere.
After seeing footage of U2 live performances at Sphere in “Sin City,” White became obsessed with putting on a UFC show at the new MSG-owned venue. White is targeting Mexican Independence Day to host an event next year and wants to be the first combat sports promoter to break into Sphere. Golden Boy Promotions’ Oscar De La Hoya has pitched the idea of co-promoting to the likes Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn for a potential Super Bowl weekend event at Sphere this coming February, but White scoffed at the idea.
“These boxing guys are calling them up going, ‘Oh, we want to do a fight over there.’ Those f*cking guys,” White said at the DWCS 66 post-event news conference. “They’re not going to spend the money to put a f*cking show on there. Those guys can’t even do f*cking replays for Christ’s sake.
“They think they’re going to f*cking put on an event at the Sphere? The Sphere is a whole other level and basically, in my opinion, I don’t run the Sphere and it’s not my company, but it’s so good that for the first at least year, they should do nothing but incredible experiences.”
It’s no secret how White feels about the boxing business model and specifically Showtime Boxing. White argues that boxing doesn’t have the money to hold an event of that magnitude at Sphere.
“I will put on the greatest live combat sports event anybody has ever seen at the Sphere in September for Mexican Independence Day,” White said. “I f*cking guarantee it. I’m so in on this it’s not even funny. If the Sphere is smart, they don’t let anybody go in there until we go in there to do a live event. The first live transmission from there should be us, and that’s why I’m saying September.
“Obviously because I want it for Independence Day, but it’ll take that long for us to really work this thing out and figure it out. Plus, you know I will spend the money to make it right. Boxing is going to f*ck around with them on the tickets. They don’t have the money to do it. None of those bums got the money to do it. I’ll do it.” | MMA |
Lightweight champion Makhachev (24-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) is scheduled to run things back with Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) in the UFC 294 headliner on Oct. 21 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
In their first fight at UFC 280, Makhachev dominated Oliveira en route to a second-round submission. Dawson, who faces Bobby Green in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 229 headliner at the UFC Apex, can’t imagine Oliveira doing worse in his second opportunity.
“Short answer: Islam wins again,” Dawson told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 229 media day. “Long answer, it’s a much more competitive fight this time. 99 percent of the nerves going into a fight is the unknown.
“I don’t know how strong this guy is, I don’t know how fast this guy is. Charles knows all of that. Also, Charles has nothing to lose. He’s going to go in against a guy that’s already beaten him. He can do nothing but look better against Islam in this next fight.”
Dawson also points to Makhachev’s past fight as a big factor. Makhachev edged out featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in a decision win at UFC 284 in February in a fight which ended with him in bottom position taking a barrage of punches.
“Islam has looked mortal,” Dawson continued. “Islam has looked like a real person against a 45’er. So, it kind of shows the division that yes, he’s really good. Yes, he’s the best in the world, but he is beatable, and there are guys out there that can beat him.
“And somebody like Charles Oliveira could get it done. Would you be shocked if you read that he got a guillotine win? He’s got one of the best guillotines in the game. So, I think Islam still wins, but it’s a much more competitive fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229. | MMA |
MUMBAI, India -- The Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the IOC on Thursday for breaching the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports bodies in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
Last week, Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute by including the sports councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members.
“(This) unilateral decision,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement, “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
The provocation in sports politics finally pushed the IOC to suspend the Russian Olympic body, a move which it has resisted during the near 20 months since the country invaded Ukraine.
The decision by the IOC executive board comes seven months after it publicly supported Russian athletes by advising governing bodies of Olympic sports to find ways of returning them to international competitions ahead of next year's Paris Olympics.
That IOC policy to ease a blanket ban was in defiance of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many Ukrainian athletes to maintain the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Those vetting processes by different sports will continue despite the IOC suspension imposed Thursday, which does not affect Belarus.
“The suspension of the national Olympic committee doesn’t affect in any way the participation of independent athletes,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference after the board meeting.
Adams said the Russian Olympic Committee had been informed of its suspension before the IOC announced it publicly.
Russia remains excluded from international events in team sports.
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AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The International Olympic Committee dismissed on Friday claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin of “ethnic discrimination” against athletes who are excluded from international sport.
The IOC has advised sports bodies this year to vet Russian athletes for returning to compete as neutral individuals without a national identity ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics while continuing to exclude teams.
Neutral status can be approved for athletes who have not actively supported the war and are not contracted to military or state security agencies, though there have been inconsistencies in how dozens of different sports have applied rules.
“We firmly reject the accusations being made that these measures are an ‘ethnic discrimination,'” the IOC said in a statement one day after Putin’s speech.
“They are a reaction to the breach of the Olympic Charter by the Russian and Belarusian governments,” the Olympic body said, referring to the military invasion of Ukraine starting in February 2022 four days after the Beijing Winter Games closed. The United Nations-backed Olympic Truce was still in force.
Putin also reportedly complained Thursday that invitations to the Olympics were not being given as a right for the best athletes.
However, the Olympic Charter details: “Nobody is entitled as of right to participate in the Olympic Games.”
“Any entry is subject to acceptance by the IOC, which may at its discretion, at any time, refuse any entry, without indication of grounds” is stated in article 44 of the book of rules and principles guiding Olympic sports.
Though the IOC last year urged a blanket isolation of Russia and Belarus from international sport, that position eased to become an aim to avoid discrimination based on an individual’s passport once qualifying events for Paris approached.
The IOC said Friday the “strict conditions” it has defined for evaluating “individual neutral athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport” comply with the charter.
The charter also states each national Olympic committee (NOC) “is obliged to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes.”
Though the IOC suspended the Russian NOC last week — for incorporating as members sports councils from occupied regions of eastern Ukraine — it can still directly invite athletes through the governing body of their sport.
IOC president Thomas Bach also has consistently said it is empowered to take a decision that could exclude all Russians from Paris ahead of the July 26 opening ceremony.
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AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The International Olympic Committee pushed back against the mayor of Paris on Wednesday, insisting there were no plans for "a Russian or Belarusian delegation” at the 2024 Games while also acknowledging that some athletes from those countries could be welcomed.
The IOC statement came a day after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said no Russians or Belarusians should be allowed to compete at next year's Olympics because of their involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not actively supported the war to try to qualify and compete as “neutral athletes” without a national identity such as team uniforms, flags and anthems.
“It is not possible to parade as if nothing had happened, to have a delegation that comes to Paris while the bombs continue to rain down on Ukraine,” Hidalgo said Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with many sports leaders and athletes, have consistently said all potential competitors from Russia or Belarus should be banned from Paris, extending a decision that was applied in most Olympic sports within days of the war starting last February.
Olympic bodies and lawmakers in the Baltic and Nordic regions of Europe have also publicly supported Ukraine in standing against the IOC’s preferred route. They have warned of a possible boycott, and are expected to join an online call of sports ministers Friday hosted by the British government.
Russian athletes have avoided being banned outright from the past four Olympics dating back to 2016 in fallout from a scandal of state-backed doping. At the past three Olympics, they competed without their national identity but in uniforms that clearly identified them as Russians.
The IOC has cited advice from a human rights expert that banning athletes on the basis of their passport would be discrimination, and sought to clarify its position Wednesday.
“There are no plans for a Russian or Belarusian delegation or the flags of these countries at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the Olympic body said. “The only option that could be considered are individual, neutral athletes like we have seen last year at the French Open in tennis and recently again at the Australian Open in tennis and in other professional sports.”
Tennis and cycling are among the few sports to let Russian and Belarusian athletes continue to compete without their country’s name, flag or anthem.
Final decisions on the possible eligibility of athletes will rest with the governing bodies of individual sports. The umbrella group of Summer Olympic sports, known as ASOIF, will meet on March 3 to discuss the issue.
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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- IOC president Thomas Bach criticized the Ukrainian government on Thursday for blocking some athletes from qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics that also included Russians and Belarusians.
Ukrainian athletes have in recent weeks missed world or European championship events in judo, fencing and taekwondo where Russians and Belarusians could compete after being approved as neutrals.
The IOC and Bach in March shaped the definition of neutrality — not publicly supporting the war, nor being contracted to the military since February last year, competing without flag, anthem or national colors — that sports governing bodies must decide how or if to apply.
“It is hard to understand why the Ukrainian government is depriving their own athletes from their chance to qualify” for Paris, Bach said in a keynote speech to an International Olympic Committee online meeting.
Ukrainian athletes were “being sanctioned by their own government,” Bach said, adding the IOC and Olympic sports bodies wanted to support them preparing for “any competition that they want to take part in.”
He did not specify if that could mean financial support for athletes in what appeared to suggest defying Ukrainian government and sports officials.
The IOC did not immediately respond to a request for more details.
Bach opened a 25-minute speech to IOC members insisting “our outrage of this brutal war, our compassion with the human suffering and our solidarity with the Ukrainian Olympic community remain as strong as ever.”
He criticized Russia once for “shamelessly” holding talks about creating “fully politicized sport competitions” as a potential rival to Olympic-approved events.
Those talks included China, which Bach has tried to keep as a close ally before and since the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, which closed four days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Otherwise, Bach tried to position the IOC in the middle ground between both sides of the war, unhappy at its position ahead of the Paris Olympics.
“The Russian side wants us to ignore the war,” he said. “The Ukrainian side wants us to totally isolate anyone with a Russian and Belarusian passport.
“We have the Russian side that considers the strict conditions (of neutral athlete vetting) to be unacceptable, humiliating and discriminatory. We have the Ukrainian side that denounces us for siding with Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said any neutral flag is stained with blood and invited Bach in January to join him visiting the wrecked city of Bakhmut.
The IOC took a tough position on Russia within days of the war starting, urging sports bodies to exclude athletes and officials from international events and strip the country of hosting rights.
However, as the Paris Olympics approached, the IOC moved toward letting some Russians back into sport and Bach suggested excluding athletes based just on their passport would be discrimination and a breach of their human rights.
World Athletics has continued to exclude all Russians while soccer bodies FIFA and UEFA have not let Russian teams play in international competitions.
Bach suggested on Thursday the IOC’s mission must be to “support the athletes of the entire world to make their Olympic dream come true.”
He evoked an image of the “rapturous welcome” Ukrainian athletes would get from hundreds of thousands of people lining the Seine river during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony in 13 months, then the “wave of enthusiasm” cheering them in their competitions.
“What a powerful demonstration of resilience, and of determination,” Bach said, “what a moment of pride, joy and hope for all Ukrainian people.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
Four ACC schools are opposed to adding Cal and Stanford, a source confirmed to ESPN, but expansion discussions are not completely over as of Friday evening.
Though there is no call currently scheduled for the presidents to talk about expansion again, the discussions continue in the hopes that perhaps they can get to 12 "yes" votes, the required number to add teams. Florida State, North Carolina, Clemson and NC State are opposed, a source said, confirming news first reported by Sports Illustrated.
One source described the expansion discussion as being "on life support," two days after ESPN reported the talks among the presidents hit "significant road blocks" following a call among presidents on Wednesday night.
Multiple sources indicated there is no deadline to make any decision for the ACC, and a presidents call could be scheduled at any time. A vote will be taken only if there are enough votes to say yes. One source believed a decision should have been made during the Wednesday call: "I would imagine that there's not much more for them to discuss. I would think that the next item on the agenda is to make a decision."
It should be noted the four schools that are opposed are among a group of seven schools that have had separate discussions among themselves looking at the ACC grant of rights and a path forward. The ACC grant of rights ties the league together through the end of its television contract with ESPN in 2036 and gives the conference control over member school's media revenue and broadcast rights.
For Cal and Stanford, the clock is ticking as they evaluate their future options.
There is appeal among a majority of the presidents to add Cal and Stanford from an academic and Olympic sports perspective. There is not nearly as much appeal among athletics directors, however, for a host of reasons, including football, finances and West Coast travel.
The ACC is facing a $30 million annual revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten, and the priority for athletics directors in the league is to try to significantly enhance revenue in the league. The ACC has looked at expansion options over the past two years but has not added any schools because they do not enhance the conference's financial situation.
That is also the case with Cal and Stanford. Neither school would add to the financial bottom line, sources indicated. But there is another component at play here that might be more appealing than finances. With Florida State president Richard McCullough telling his board of trustees last week the university would have to "very seriously" consider leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change to the conference's revenue distribution model, adding schools could help solidify the conference into the future.
Any team that wants to leave the ACC for next season must notify the league by Aug. 15. Perhaps that is why talks are not completely over, as there continues to be a waiting game to see what Florida State does. Though multiple sources indicated it appears unlikely the Seminoles will do anything by Aug. 15, there is a bit of a guessing game involved in what could happen.
With the prospect of adding no schools on the table, and understanding Florida State is serious about leaving, perhaps the Seminoles open more doors to getting what they want -- a change in the way television revenue is distributed. Or perhaps their vocalness will not change anything. More clarity is expected once the deadline passes. | Olympic Sports |
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PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said the Russian flag has no place at next year’s Paris Olympics because of the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Ukraine.
Russia has not been allowed to fly its flag at the Olympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Since then, Russians have been competing at the Summer and Winter Olympics under various names because of doping issues.
In an interview with L’Equipe newspaper published Thursday, Macron said he didn’t want them to fly their flag in Paris because of the war in Ukraine.
“Russia, as a country, has no place at a time when it has committed war crimes and deported children,” Macron said.
The interview was published a day after a Russian missile tore through an outdoor market in eastern Ukraine, killing 17 people and wounding dozens.
The IOC has encouraged governing bodies of individual sports to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as “neutral athletes” without national symbols or flags in Olympic qualifying events.
READ MORE: Russia says southeast Ukraine is now the main focus of fighting in the war
The governing bodies of most Olympic sports have either adopted the IOC policy already or are working on plans to do so. The IOC still recommends barring Russia and Belarus from team sports and excluding athletes who are contracted to the military or security forces.
“There can’t, obviously, be a Russian flag at the Paris Games, I think there’s a consensus on that,” Macron said.
Asked whether he favors the presence of Russian athletes, Macron said the issue “should not be politicized.”
“I want the Olympic world to make a conscious decision, and I have every confidence in (IOC president) Thomas Bach,” he said.
Macron acknowledged that as president of France he has a say in the matter, “but within the framework of a dialogue.”
France could refuse to issue visas to Russian athletes, coaches and officials, as some European countries have done for sporting events they have hosted since the invasion started.
“The real question that the Olympic world will have to decide is what place to give to these Russian athletes, who have sometimes prepared their whole lives and may also be victims of this regime,” Macron said. “Some may fight it, even in their public statements.”
In March, the IOC said eligibility should be limited to athletes and officials who have not actively supported the war, nor have ties to the military and state security agencies. No clear definitions for eligibility have yet been stated.
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Five not-so-random thoughts on the Pac-12 …
1. UCLA’s messy situation could get worse
With California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the University of California Regents demanding a review of UCLA’s double-secret move to the Big Ten, we see exactly why the Bruins opted for the stealth approach in the first place.
Had they taken a more public path to exiting the Pac-12 and leaving Cal behind, the move assuredly would have been blocked or delayed at the bureaucratic level. It does not appear the UC regents can prevent the Bruins from joining the Big Ten in 2024. But if desired, they could attempt to make the process extremely difficult by whacking UCLA where it hurts most: In the wallet.
Multiple sources believe the regents will explore forcing the Bruins to subsidize Cal’s athletic department, which stands to lose millions annually in Pac-12 distributions because of the loss of the Los Angeles market.
The details of a power move by the regents are unanswerable at this point, including how the money would be redirected.
We aren’t sure they can touch Big Ten revenue; instead, they might have to hit UCLA’s state allocations.
Either way, a loss of revenue for UCLA’s athletic department could carry significant repercussions. Why? Because the Bruins are already in debt. Huge debt. Colossal debt.
Before COVID, they were facing a multi-year shortfall of approximately $40 million. According to the L.A. Times, the bill has grown to $100 million.
That, not the desire to spend weekends in Iowa City, is why the Bruins are leaving their longtime home for a conference 2,000 miles away.
The massive windfall from joining the Big Ten will allow them, eventually, to climb into the black.
Chancellor Gene Block cares about UCLA’s athletic department only to the extent that he doesn’t have to pay for it. He saw the Big Ten move as a get-out-of-debt card and used it.
But if the Bruins are forced to divert a significant sum annually to Cal, they won’t have the resources to support their programs, including football, at the level required to thrive in the Big Ten.
The last thing the Bruins want is to start their new existence without the ability to reinvest.
Just ask Maryland and Rutgers what that’s like.
Continue down the wormhole, and it’s easy to envision UCLA’s Olympic sports teams, already facing taxing travel, struggling to compete at their accustomed level.
To justify the move, the Bruins must win — and win early — in the sports they have traditionally dominated.
The UC regents could make that vastly more difficult.
We aren’t convinced the regents will follow through with financial penalties, and we don’t expect a change of heart from the Bruins.
But both situations are worth monitoring, as is the level of buyer’s remorse that might surface over the next 24 months.
2. Playing defense with offense
The Hotline made its position clear on expansion earlier this week. If the Pac-12 decides to replace the Los Angeles schools, San Diego State is the obvious choice.
The Aztecs provide a foothold in the league’s most important recruiting region. They are opening a new stadium, they can compete at the Pac-12 level in football and basketball, and they bring a top-30 media market.
But an additional factor should be mentioned: The need for the Pac-12 to use SDSU as a defensive play.
If the conference passes on the Aztecs, they would become available to a potentially aggressive Big 12.
Granted, that’s not a likely outcome. But nothing can be dismissed as conferences make membership decisions based on financial and competitive positioning for the new era in college football.
As of 2024, the Big Ten will own the Los Angeles basin and all its accompanying riches.
The Pac-12 cannot afford to cede San Diego County to the Big 12.
3. Who’s No. 12?
If the Pac-12 remains intact and expands, it would need to add an even number of teams. In addition to San Diego State, which schools make sense? A quick summary:
— Fresno State has a competitive football program but sits just outside the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto media market, which is No. 20 in the nation (larger than Portland, San Diego and Salt Lake City). Depending on the valuation assigned to FSU by media companies, the Bulldogs are worth considering.
— SMU would allow the Pac-12 to gain a presence in the Dallas market. The school is No. 68 in the US News and World Report rankings and would undoubtedly welcome an invitation, having been passed over by the Big 12 (which already has TCU in Fort Worth).
— And until the Pac-12 doesn’t attempt to steal schools currently in the Big 12 (or planning to join the conference), we won’t discount the potential for aggressive action by commissioner George Kliavkoff. In that case, Houston and TCU might be atop the wish list.
How it unfolds, we cannot begin to guess. But the Hotline’s goal, here and always, is to examine all scenarios so readers aren’t surprised by any outcome.
If there’s a non-zero chance, we aim to address it.
4. Tricky timing for Oregon and Washington
In an ideal world, the Pacific Northwest powers would do absolutely nothing for the next two years.
They would remain exactly where they are, without a long-term contract binding them to either the Pac-12 or the Big 12.
Why? Because free agency is the place until the Big Ten and Notre Dame finish their long, slow dance.
Notre Dame’s contract with NBC expires at the conclusion of the 2025 season, clearing the way for the Irish to join the Big Ten for ’26 — the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff.
And if the Big Ten adds a 17th team, it would need an 18th — and possibly a 19th and 20th, as well. Washington and Oregon would be strong candidates, as would Stanford (because of the academic reputation and Bay Area media market).
Part of the challenge for Kliavkoff as he attempts to hold the conference together is crafting an agreement that serves two masters:
— Binding enough to induce quality bids from potential media partners.
— Flexible enough to satisfy Pac-12 schools with one eye on the Big Ten.
Because it has properties the Big Ten might want while the Big 12 has nothing left of value to the two super-leagues, the Pac-12 is seemingly less stable than its neighbor in the Southern Plains.
5. The new guys
One final dynamic worthy of note as college football rocks and roils is the lack of experience atop all but one of the Power Five conferences.
SEC’s Greg Sankey: Hired in 2015
Big Ten’s Kevin Warren: Hired in 2019
ACC’s Jim Phillips: Hired in 2020
Pac-12’s George Kliavkoff: Hired in 2021
Big 12’s Brett Yormark: Hired in 2022
We’re not sure a strategic advantage exists, beyond that which accompanies the conference with the best product and largest markets.
But the lineup of newcomers adds an unpredictable element to the proceedings. Support the Hotline: Receive three months of unlimited access for just 99 cents. Yep, that’s 99 cents for 90 days, with the option to cancel anytime. Details are here, and thanks for your support. *** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to [email protected] or call 408-920-5716
*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline
*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference. | Olympic Sports |
Latvia has threatened to boycott next year's Paris Olympics if Russian athletes are allowed to take part during the war in Ukraine and is calling on other countries to form a coalition to pressure international sports bodies.
The Latvian Olympic Committee is the first national Olympic body other than Ukraine to threaten to boycott rather than compete against Russia.
It marks a rare challenge from within the sports world to the International Olympic Committee, which wants to let competitors from Russia and ally Belarus take part as "neutral athletes." The national Olympic committees who send the teams have mostly stayed quiet or backed the IOC, even as politicians in many European countries have said Russia shouldn't return to competition.
"For as long as there is an ongoing war in Ukraine, participation of the Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games under any flag is unacceptable," Latvian Olympic Committee president Žoržs Tikmers said in a statement Wednesday.
A boycott could start soon. Tikmers said Monday that Latvia would not send a team to the Paris Olympics if they were to take place right now with Russian or Belarusian involvement. He broadened that position Wednesday by saying Latvia should boycott Olympic qualifying competitions, which are already under way in some sports, if Russians or Belarusians are allowed in.
"NOC Latvia deems unacceptable for Latvian teams and individual athletes to participate in such international sports competitions that have not expelled Russian and Belarusian athletes from the participation, including the Olympic qualifications competitions," he said.
Latvia called on international sports bodies and countries including Britain, France and Canada to speak out against Russia's involvement and stop the country and Belarus from gaining "soft power" through sports.
There was no immediate response from the IOC.
Tikmers won a silver medal in rowing for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which numerous countries boycotted in protest after Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.
Latvia, which borders Russia and regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has been a strong supporter of Ukraine. Latvia is the defending Olympic champion in men's 3-on-3 basketball after beating the Russian team in the gold-medal game in Tokyo.
Ukraine is steadfastly opposed to letting Russians compete. Any neutral flag for Russia would be "stained with blood," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee has threatened to boycott and is due to hold talks Friday on the issue. Ukraine boycotted some sports competitions, including Olympic judo qualifiers, last year when Russians competed.
Other national Olympic sports bodies, including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, back the IOC efforts to find a path for Russians to compete. The IOC is pushing sports federations to allow any Russians or Belarusians who have not been "actively supporting the war in Ukraine" and argues it would be discriminatory to ban athletes based on their citizenship alone. | Olympic Sports |
The government has written to the Olympic Games’ biggest sponsors urging them to put pressure on the IOC over its proposals to allow Russian and Belarusians to compete again in international sport and the Paris 2024 Games.
In a highly unusual move, the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, has also asked the UK chief executives of the IOC’s worldwide partners – including Coca-Cola, Intel, Samsung and Visa – to press the IOC over a number of significant concerns it has over the potential easing of the ban.
“We know sport and politics in Russia and Belarus are heavily intertwined, and we are determined that the regimes in Russia and Belarus must not be allowed to use sport for their propaganda purposes,” the letter states.
“As long as our concerns and the substantial lack of clarity and concrete detail on a workable ‘neutrality’ model are not addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed back into competition.”
The IOC continues to explore a pathway to allow such athletes to compete as “neutral” athletes, including qualifying for the Paris Olympics in Asia rather than Europe.
However the UK, along with 34 other countries, maintain that the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated since the IOC’s initial decision last February to impose a ban – and that Russia and Belarus should not return until Vladimir Putin stops his illegal war.
In a statement last month, the countries expressed serious concerns about how feasible it is for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete on a neutral basis given they are directly funded and supported by their states. They also raised concerns over the strong links and affiliations between Russian athletes and the Russian military.
“Noting the IOC’s stated position that no final decisions have been made, we have strongly urged the IOC to address the questions identified by all countries and reconsider its proposal accordingly,” Frazer’s letter tells the sponsors.
“As an Olympic partner, I would welcome your views on this matter and ask you to join us in pressing the IOC to address the concerns raised in our statement.”
The letter comes a day after Russia launched its biggest missile strike on cities across Ukraine in weeks.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has also reiterated his call for a ban, saying that Russia’s presence at next year’s Olympics would be a “manifestation of violence”.
“If the Olympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place,” he said. | Olympic Sports |
Russian participation in the Paris 2024 Olympics "cannot be covered up with pretend neutrality or a white flag", Ukraine president Volodymr Zelensky says.
Zelensky was speaking at a summit of 36 nations on Friday to discuss Russian and Belarusian athletes' participation in next year's Games.
The summit was chaired by UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer.
A collective statement is expected to be agreed in the coming days.
The summit was called after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it was "exploring a pathway" for athletes from the two nations to compete as neutrals.
That move has been criticised amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking via live video link, Zelensky told the delegation: "While Russia kills and terrorises, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions.
"And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag, because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood - even the white flag.
"It must be recognised. And this must be recognised, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee."
In his opening address, Zelensky told the delegation - which included ministers and senior representatives from countries including France, Germany, Poland, the United States and Canada - that 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches had died since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
He called for the Olympic movement to be "safeguarded", noting that "many Russian athletes are associated with the sports clubs of the Russian army and security state agencies".
"If the Olympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place," he said.
He later added: "If, God forbid, the Olympic principles are destroyed and Russian athletes are allowed to participate in any competitions or the Olympic Games, it's just a matter of time before the terrorist state forces them to play along with the war propaganda."
In January, the IOC suggested Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete under neutral flags in Paris, saying "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport".
Ukraine's sports minister Vadym Guttsait has said the country could boycott the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.
A large number of other nations have already voiced their opposition to the potential inclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
In a letter to Guttsait, which has been seen by the BBC, IOC president Thomas Bach said comments from Ukrainian officials suggesting allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes would promote the war are "defamatory".
"Russia has destroyed Ukrainian sporting infrastructure and stopped opportunities for Ukrainian athletes," Frazer told the summit.
"There is danger here that the world wishes to move on and back to business as usual. However, the situation in Ukraine has not changed since the IOC's initial decision last February on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition.
"As long as Putin continues his war, Russia and Belarus must not be allowed to compete on the world stage or be represented at the Olympics." | Olympic Sports |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Criticism by European governments of the push to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes into world sports before the 2024 Paris Games was called “deplorable” by the International Olympic Committee leader on Thursday.
IOC president Thomas Bach also suggested those governments – which seemed to include his own home country Germany – had “double standards” for focusing on athletes from countries involved in just one of about 70 wars and armed conflicts ongoing in the world.
Bach detailed IOC advice on Tuesday to individual Olympic sports bodies of conditions by which they could decide to approve individual Russian or Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes, while continuing a ban from team sports.
The IOC said sports should exclude athletes who have military links, though Bach clarified on Thursday this likely should not apply to those who did one year of mandatory service.
“We have taken note of some negative reactions by some European governments in particular,” Bach said at a news conference after an IOC executive board meeting.
Germany sports minister Nancy Faeser said the IOC’s shift from its position one year ago to exclude all athletes and teams from Russia and Belarus as “a slap in the face of Ukrainian athletes.”
“Those who let the warmonger Russia use international competitions for its propaganda are damaging the Olympic idea of peace and international understanding,” Faeser said, echoing comments from other Ukrainian allies including Poland.
Bach responded it was deplorable that some governments “do not want to respect the majority within the Olympic movement and of all the stakeholders nor the autonomy of sport which they are praising and requesting from other countries.”
“It’s deplorable that these governments don’t address the question of double standards with which we have been confronted,” the German lawyer said.
“We have not seen a single comment from them about their attitude about the participation of athletes whose countries are involved in the other 70 wars and armed conflicts in the world.”
Criticism of sports officials was only hardening their stance against lawmakers, Bach suggested, and “strengthened the unity.”
“It cannot be up to the governments to decide which athletes can participate in which competition,” he said.
The final decision on which Russian and Belarusian teams can compete in international events, including qualification for the Paris Olympics, is for the governing bodies of individual sports.
However, World Athletics said last week it will continue its more than year-long exclusion for “the foreseeable future.”
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
Bethany Hamilton, a pro surfer best known for her memoir Soul Surfer and her arm being bitten off in a shark attack, announced she would no longer compete in World Surf League events after the organization updated its policies to allow trans women to compete in women’s events.
On Sunday, Hamilton, 33, posted on Instagram in response to the organization's policy, stating that she was speaking up for the other women on tour who fear being ostracized for their views.
The WSL’s new policy requires transgender women to maintain testosterone levels lower than 5 nanomoles per liter for at least a year, in addition to having a “female” or “X” gender marker on a passport or national identity card.
For transgender men, the WSL does not state any hormone threshold and only requires athletes to have a “male” gender marker on official identification documents.
“Is a hormone level an honest and accurate depiction that someone is indeed a male or female? Is it as simple as this?” Hamilton asks in her Instagram video.
Of course not.
Hormone testing has long been leveraged against not only trans women but cisgender women who have naturally high levels of testosterone.
South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympian once deemed the world’s fastest woman, was barred in 2017 from competing in future Olympics because she refused to take drugs to reduce her body’s own high testosterone levels.
But that’s not what Hamilton is talking about.
The pro surfer said she wanted to address the rule regarding “male-bodied individuals'' in women’s sports and make sure the future of women’s surfing is protected from what she sees as “glimpses of male-bodied dominance.”
In response to Hamilton’s trans-exclusionary comments, some creators on TikTok made videos siding with sharks — referencing the traumatic shark attack in which the then-13-year-old surfer’s left arm was bitten off.
The pressure to define a policy for transgender surfers intensified after Sasha Jane Lowerson became the first openly trans woman to win the women’s open in Australia in May 2022.
“Unfortunately, when a trans athlete is successful a lot of people want to jump up and down. But there are also a lot of people that want to celebrate it, which is a positive thing,” Lowerson told the Inertia magazine after her victory.
Inertia also reported last week that WSL Chief of Sport Jessi Miley-Dyer and Chief Medical Officer Allan MacKillop came to the policy decision together.
“The WSL will not test transgender athletes [for testosterone levels] ourselves,” Miley-Dyer said. “Athletes will arrange their own testing, then come to our chief medical officer to have a confidential conversation and show medical documentation.”
Many Olympic sports do not currently have an official policy regarding hormone levels. The International Cycling Union requires transgender women athletes to test below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for two years to be eligible, which is considered an average range for cisgender women.
Yet across the US, numerous state legislatures are pushing bills that would restrict the access of trans youth from participating on the sports team that aligns with their gender identity.
Hamilton proposed that the WSL create a separate division for trans athletes altogether — and she isn’t alone. After Surfing Australia, a part of the International Surfing Association, shared guidance that was inclusive of transgender surfers, pro surfer Kelly Slater and others called for a “trans division.” | Olympic Sports |
In 2018, retired NFL defensive end Jared Allen took up curling in the hopes that he would one day be an Olympian in the sport.
“Yeah, right” was a perfectly reasonable reaction. Allen had dedicated most of his adult life to football – only 11 men have more NFL career sacks and he is a three-time finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Most competitive curlers have been sliding around on ice since preschool, honing the skills and acumen necessary to win at their local clubs, let alone the Olympic trials. Allen, meanwhile, had never played the sport seriously and spent most of his time smashing into other very large men before retiring from football in 2016.
This month, Allen and his teammates opened the US Championships by defeating the 2018 gold medalists.
The rest of the week didn’t go their way, and John Shuster’s team of Olympians bounced back to win yet another national title. But the chances of the four-time All-Pro lineman representing the US in Italy in 2026, while still a long shot, are not impossible. Allen’s team played a dozen events this season and racked up wins over several championship-caliber teams, including the top-ranked US team led by Korey Dropkin.
“You’ve got to face these guys,” Allen says. “You know you can beat them, so you’ve got to draw from that.”
So could Allen break through at the US Championships and go on to play for a world title? Or even at the Olympic trials?
“If he’s with the right teammates, which is huge, he could possibly compete for a national championship at some point,” says Tyler George, who played with Shuster in the Olympics.
At first, Allen didn’t quite have those teammates. He started with a group of fellow NFL retirees – former quarterback Marc Bulger, former linebacker Keith Bulluck and former offensive lineman Michael Roos. They tended to lose by wide margins.
But Allen stuck with it and started to play with more experienced curlers. This season, Allen has played with two former Olympians – skip Jason Smith and vice-skip Dominik Märki – and two-time US mixed champion Hunter Clawson.
And they’ve started to win. In November, they beat the top-ranked US team, led by Dropkin. They entered the US Championships ranked fifth in the country and started with three wins in four games.
“We’ve had some good runs,” Allen says. “Our biggest challenge for the next year will be consistency. We know we can play with anybody. Now we need to win when it matters most.”
If you watch Allen in action, you’ll see a curler who may not slide quite as effortlessly as his teammates or counterparts. While many experienced players start their deliveries crouched like a baseball catcher, the 6ft 6in Allen is more upright. When he and Clawson are sweeping, it’s easy to tell them apart because the young but experienced Clawson is sliding around as if skating on one foot, while Allen is securely walking on two feet. But his accuracy is solid, and he generally gets his rocks (also called stones) near where Smith wants them to go.
It’s not as if there’s one textbook way to deliver a rock, and Allen’s delivery is working for him.
“I’ve been tall my whole life,” Allen says. “I’m used to it.”
He’s no longer a skip, the person in charge of team strategy and usually the person who throws the high-pressure, high-difficulty final rocks in each end (the rough analogue of an inning in baseball). When the last person throws, they may be facing a phalanx of rocks they must either avoid or hit, sometimes setting three or four of them in motion with precision and power. The skip faces several different scenarios each game, with an endless variety of angles among all the rocks in play.
Allen now plays lead, throwing the first two rocks for his team, which means he isn’t staring down the ice at a lot of stones already in play that must be dodged or hit. The variety of shots needed is smaller, and the lead can focus on mastering a couple of situations. That requires countless hours of practice but not necessarily decades of experience.
“There are a lot of players who’ve played lead who aren’t the most technically talented, but they’re good teammates, they’re good sweepers, and they win,” George says. “He can help a team without being the most multifaceted player.”
One advantage of Allen’s position: He sweeps every one of his team’s stones except the ones he delivers. Good sweepers come in all shapes and sizes, but being big and strong is still an advantage.
“It doesn’t hurt,” George says. “If he uses it correctly, then it helps.”
Physical fitness also helps in general. Most players ease their way out of sweeping positions as they get older, but a hugely strong athlete like Allen can keep going for years to come, increasing the odds that any given year will be his time to defeat the top US teams to go to the world championships or Olympics.
Staying in the game would also help Allen catch up with his peers on the all-important mental side of the game. The movement of rocks over ice isn’t as predictable as the world’s top players make it look, and understanding its intricacies is a constant challenge.
“I think he now understands that a large part of being a top player in this game is about seeing things over and over and learning the nuances of teamwork, ice reading, and strategy,” says John Benton, another Olympic veteran who worked with Allen and his fellow former NFL players when they started curling. “I think he sees that getting to the top is not just a matter of physical talent.”
“When he started playing with competitive curlers, he learned by osmosis – how to work together, how to have a feel for the game,” George said.
The competitive curlers are glad to have him. He could have chosen another sport like mixed martial arts, in which he trained for several years, but his family wouldn’t have been thrilled to see him go from football to fighting, given the dangers of both sports. The lessons of pushing through barriers in MMA training remained, but curling is the epitome of a non-contact sport.
It’s not just his teammates who appreciate him. Curling, like a lot of Olympic sports, struggles for public attention during off-years unless it’s beset by scandal and a major rift – which has been the case within USA Curling over the last few months. Having a colorful character who gave shoutouts to a preschool or the fictional “Culinary Academy” in NFL player introductions won’t heal many scars or reunite the divided, but at least it gives the sport another story to present.
“I know I’m going to get more publicity than most,” Allen says. “The best thing now is that they can see it’s not just a publicity stunt. You’ve seen the improvement in my game. You can see the hard work, the respect I have for the game, my competitive nature.”
Allen’s career so far could hardly have played out any better for the sport’s image. Curling can be played at a recreational level by anyone, but the upper levels raise the bar so high that a professional athlete has to be as determined as Allen in order to succeed.
And it doesn’t hurt that he seems to be having a great time.
“I hope Jared understands that he’s already in a place where he can be an ambassador for the game,” George says. “He has a platform that nobody else has.”
But not just a novelty, George adds.
“He’s a curler. He’s not a football player that curls.” | Olympic Sports |
The world’s top chess federation has ruled that transgender women cannot compete in its official events for females until a review of the situation is made by its officials.
The decision by Lausanne, Switzerland-based federation Fide was published on Monday and has drawn criticism from advocacy groups and supporters of transgender rights.
Fide said it and its member federations increasingly have received recognition requests from players who identify as transgender, and that the participation of transgender women would depend on an analysis of individual cases. That process could take up to two years.
“Change of gender is a change that has a significant impact on a player’s status and future eligibility to tournaments, therefore it can only be made if there is a relevant proof of the change provided,” the federation said.
“In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official Fide events for women until further Fide’s decision is made,” it said.
It acknowledged that questions regarding transgender players were an “evolving issue for chess” and that “further policy may need to be evolved in the future in line with research evidence.”
No one immediately responded to emails to top federation officials and calls to the federation’s headquarters in Switzerland seeking further comment.
Word of the decision comes as the federation is hosting a World Cup event in Azerbaijan where top players including No 1 ranked Magnus Carlsen are attending.
The federation has open competitions that allow all players to take part, as well as specialized categories for women, young players and even computers.
Many sports involving intense physical activity – which chess does not – have been grappling with how to formulate policies toward transgender athletes in recent years.
The International Cycling Union has joined the governing bodies of track and field and swimming as top-tier Olympic sports addressing the issue of transgender athletes.
Last month, the cycling federation ruled that female transgender athletes who transitioned after male puberty will no longer be able to compete in women’s races. | Olympic Sports |
Brigitte Henriques, a former soccer player on the French national team, was the first woman to lead Olympic sports in France. Her departure follows a period of intense infighting in French Olympic circles.
The French Olympic Committee said she announced at the start of a general assembly meeting on Thursday that she was stepping down. The committee statement did not give her reasons but said she explained them to the meeting's attendees. She'd occupied the role since June 2021.
With the Paris Games less than 430 days away, the sudden void at the top of French Olympic sports will be temporarily filled by the Olympic committee secretary general Astrid Guyart. She will oversee the election process for a new president within three months, the committee said.
As head of France's Olympic Committee, Henriques was directly involved in the massive, complex and costly preparations for the 2024 Games, sitting as a member of the board of directors of the Paris organizing committee led by its president, Tony Estanguet. As French Olympic Committee secretary, the new interim president, Guyart, was already a member of the Paris 2024 board, too.
While French sports have triumphed on the fields of play, led notably by victory in the 2018 soccer World Cup, they've been rocked by multiple leadership changes in the run-up to the Paris Games.
Noël Le Graët resigned as president of the French Football Federation in February after a government audit found he no longer had the legitimacy to lead because of his behavior toward women and his management style.
Bernard Laporte resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation in January after he was convicted of corruption and illegally acquiring assets and handed a suspended prison sentence.
Last October, Claude Atcher was fired as chief executive of the Rugby World Cup that opens in France in September, and which also will serve as a test of France's security preparations for the Olympics. Atcher's removal followed an investigation by French labor inspectors into his workplace conduct.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
CNN — To win a gold medal in Olympic sports like diving or gymnastics, the key last step is to stick the landing. That’s also true for TV series, which, however popular they might have been at their apex, can leave a sour aftertaste if they mess up their finales. This year brought a mixed bag of finishes, from AMC’s “Better Call Saul” – which put a cherry on top of its splendid run – to Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” which after ending abruptly in 2020 presented a dreary movie intended to provide its audience a belated degree of closure. A few disclaimers: This isn’t a comprehensive list, with “His Dark Materials,” “The Good Fight” and “Better Things” among the other shows – some notable, others less so – that ended their runs this year. Also, entries are limited to programs where the producers knew they were coming to an end and could plan accordingly, thus excluding something like “Westworld,” which was canceled after its fourth season and deprived the opportunity to craft an ending – not, frankly, that it would have likely mattered much given its confusing creative spiral. From top to bottom, then, here are some of the series that said goodbye in 2022, and whether their routines wowed the judges (OK, this particular judge). “Better Call Saul” (AMC, August 16): All those teases of a black-and-white future finally came together as the “Breaking Bad” spinoff reached its conclusion, which included weaving in some of the original characters to help say goodbye. Given the suspense that always existed about what separated Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) from Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), the understated payoff, and Saul’s act of contrition, seemed as pitch perfect as most of what preceded it. “Ozark” (Netflix, April 29): A family that crimes together apparently stays together, as the Byrdes left behind plenty of collateral damage in their final dangerous arc, and in the process brought their children into what had become the family business. A beautifully acted series from start to finish, with Jason Bateman and Laura Linney leading the way. “This is Us” (NBC, May 24): The unabashedly sentimental and romantic finale nicely reflected the tone of the show throughout its run, which is something to which finales should always aspire. It also created a strong showcase for Mandy Moore, while capturing the challenges of caring for and saying goodbye to an aging parent. “Atlanta” (FX, November 10): Anyone expecting some kind of closure clearly wasn’t paying attention to this long-delayed final season, which was even more lyrical, scattered and occasionally surreal than those leading up to it. Still, the Donald Glover series went out entirely on its own terms, which was interesting simply on that level, yielding great moments along the way more than a cohesive whole. “Black-ish” (ABC, April 19): The long-running ABC sitcom featured plenty of memorable episodes during its eight-season run. The ambitious finale wasn’t necessarily one of them, but after everything from a New Orleans-style funeral to a cameo by gymnast Simon Biles, it sweetly closed with the reminder that sitcoms might end, but life goes on. Like “The Walking Dead” (see below), the show wasn’t helped by the determination to spin it off with “grown-ish” and “mixed-ish,” another example of franchise fatigue. “After Life” (Netflix, January 14): Ricky Gervais’ melancholy series about dealing with grief cut against the grain by choosing a less-uplifting finish than most movies and TV devoted to this theme, accepting that not everyone can happily move on after experiencing tragedy. The thoughtful payoff couldn’t elevate this to the level of “The Office” and “Extras” co-creator’s top-tier efforts. “Grace and Frankie” and “Dead to Me” (Netflix, April 29 and November 17): Two Netflix shows about the unlikely friendships between two very different women said goodbye, with the former providing a nifty showcase for older stars, beginning with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, while ending with a bit of whimper after seven seasons. Both flirted with death in their last seasons, as “Dead to Me” centered on the bond between Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini), even if the twists leading up to it, starting with the whole James Marsden twin thing, had begun to grow a bit tedious. “The Walking Dead” (AMC, November 21): The main problem with the ending of this AMC staple is that it really wasn’t an ending at all, as all those promos for spinoff series featuring prominent characters made clear. Mostly, it felt like an OK way to complete the season after the drawn-out Commonwealth plot. Beyond that, it’s basically an intermission on the “Dead” franchise, in part because the network is so heavily invested in this “zombie-verse” it has to keep lurching onward. “Ray Donovan: The Movie” (Showtime, January 14): After abruptly ending in 2020, this gritty Showtime drama sought to tie up loose ends with a movie, relying on an extensive flashback that only marginally added to the story. Liev Schreiber’s Ray wielded a mean bat in his glory days, but this last trip to the plate (unlike “Dexter: New Blood,” which premiered in 2021 but didn’t officially end until this year, making the most of its limited-series do-over) constituted a swing and a miss. “Killing Eve” (BBC America, April 10): Setting aside the tired nature of the “Bury your gays” trope, this once-addictive series concluded with an episode that was as chaotic as it was unsatisfying. Having burned brightly at first, the spy dramedy should be remembered for its initial cat-and-mouse game involving the office-bound analyst Eve (Sandra Oh) and the accomplished assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer), and not incidentally, turning the then-unknown Comer into a bankable star. | Olympic Sports |
Bethany Hamilton, a pro surfer best known for her memoir Soul Surfer and her arm being bitten off in a shark attack, announced she would no longer compete in World Surf League events after the organization updated its policies to allow trans women to compete in women’s events.
On Sunday, Hamilton, 33, posted on Instagram in response to the organization's policy, stating that she was speaking up for the other women on tour who fear being ostracized for their views.
The WSL’s new policy requires transgender women to maintain testosterone levels lower than 5 nanomoles per liter for at least a year, in addition to having a “female” or “X” gender marker on a passport or national identity card.
For transgender men, the WSL does not state any hormone threshold and only requires athletes to have a “male” gender marker on official identification documents.
“Is a hormone level an honest and accurate depiction that someone is indeed a male or female? Is it as simple as this?” Hamilton asks in her Instagram video.
Of course not.
Hormone testing has long been leveraged against not only trans women but cisgender women who have naturally high levels of testosterone.
South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympian once deemed the world’s fastest woman, was barred in 2017 from competing in future Olympics because she refused to take drugs to reduce her body’s own high testosterone levels.
But that’s not what Hamilton is talking about.
The pro surfer used misgendering language to refer to trans women in the sport and said she wanted to make sure the future of women’s surfing is protected from what she sees as “glimpses of...dominance” by trans athletes.
In response to Hamilton’s trans-exclusionary comments, some creators on TikTok made videos siding with sharks — referencing the traumatic shark attack in which the then-13-year-old surfer’s left arm was bitten off.
The pressure to define a policy for transgender surfers intensified after Sasha Jane Lowerson became the first openly trans woman to win the women’s open in Australia in May 2022.
“Unfortunately, when a trans athlete is successful a lot of people want to jump up and down. But there are also a lot of people that want to celebrate it, which is a positive thing,” Lowerson told the Inertia magazine after her victory.
Inertia also reported last week that WSL Chief of Sport Jessi Miley-Dyer and Chief Medical Officer Allan MacKillop came to the policy decision together.
“The WSL will not test transgender athletes [for testosterone levels] ourselves,” Miley-Dyer said. “Athletes will arrange their own testing, then come to our chief medical officer to have a confidential conversation and show medical documentation.”
Many Olympic sports do not currently have an official policy regarding hormone levels. The International Cycling Union requires transgender women athletes to test below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for two years to be eligible, which is considered an average range for cisgender women.
Yet across the US, numerous state legislatures are pushing bills that would restrict the access of trans youth from participating on the sports team that aligns with their gender identity.
Hamilton proposed that the WSL create a separate division for trans athletes altogether — and she isn’t alone. After Surfing Australia, a part of the International Surfing Association, shared guidance that was inclusive of transgender surfers, pro surfer Kelly Slater and others called for a “trans division.” | Olympic Sports |
Russia has not been allowed to fly its flag at the Olympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Since then, Russians have been competing at the Summer and Winter Olympics under various names because of doping issues.
In an interview with L'Equipe newspaper published Thursday, Macron said he didn't want them to fly their flag in Paris because of the war in Ukraine.
“Russia, as a country, has no place at a time when it has committed war crimes and deported children,” Macron said.
The interview was published a day after a Russian missile tore through an outdoor market in eastern Ukraine, killing 17 people and wounding dozens.
The IOC has encouraged governing bodies of individual sports to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as “neutral athletes” without national symbols or flags in Olympic qualifying events.
The governing bodies of most Olympic sports have either adopted the IOC policy already or are working on plans to do so. The IOC still recommends barring Russia and Belarus from team sports and excluding athletes who are contracted to the military or security forces.
“There can't, obviously, be a Russian flag at the Paris Games, I think there’s a consensus on that,” Macron said.
Asked whether he favors the presence of Russian athletes, Macron said the issue “should not be politicized.”
"I want the Olympic world to make a conscious decision, and I have every confidence in (IOC president) Thomas Bach," he said.
Macron acknowledged that as president of France he has a say in the matter, “but within the framework of a dialogue.”
France could refuse to issue visas to Russian athletes, coaches and officials, as some European countries have done for sporting events they have hosted since the invasion started.
“The real question that the Olympic world will have to decide is what place to give to these Russian athletes, who have sometimes prepared their whole lives and may also be victims of this regime," Macron said. “Some may fight it, even in their public statements.”
In March, the IOC said eligibility should be limited to athletes and officials who have not actively supported the war, nor have ties to the military and state security agencies. No clear definitions for eligibility have yet been stated.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
Russia’s presence at next year’s Paris Olympics would be a “manifestation of violence”, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told a summit of 35 sports ministers chaired by the UK government.
“If the Olympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place,” added Zelenskiy, who renewed his calls for all Russians to be banned from the Games.
The International Olympic Committee said last month it was exploring a “pathway” to allow Russian and Belarusian competitors to take part in Paris under a neutral flag.
However, Zelenskiy told the ministers, who included representatives from the US, Canada and across Europe, that these athletes would be forced “to play along with the war propaganda”.
“Terror and Olympism are two opposites – they cannot be combined,” he said. “Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood.
“The mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state is a manifestation of violence and lawlessness,” he added. “And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag.”
Ukraine’s leader also noted that at least 228 of his country’s athletes and coaches had died during the invasion – yet few Russian athletes had spoken out against it.
“There is almost no such condemnation,” he said. “There are only a few isolated voices that are quickly fading away.
“If Russian athletes are allowed to participate in any competitions or the Olympic Games, it is just a matter of time before the terrorist state forces them to play along with the war propaganda.”
The UK culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, who chaired the meeting, said the UK government’s position was for Russian athletes to be banned from the Olympics.
“There is a danger here that the world wishes to move on and back to business as usual,” she said. “However, the situation in Ukraine has not changed since the IOC’s initial decision last February on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition.
“As long as Putin continues his war, Russia and Belarus must not be allowed to compete on the world stage or be represented at the Olympics.” | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- Russian athletes have "no place" at next year's Paris Olympics while their country's invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from about 30 countries Friday.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude athletes from Russia and ally Belarus ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. With qualifying in many sports underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
"While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions," Zelenskyy told the summit in an opening address by video link, according to a transcript issued by his office. "And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood -- even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee.
"The International Olympic Committee needs honesty. Honesty it has unfortunately lost. Honesty that will help stop Russian terror and bring peace closer."
Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's summit meeting, which was held online and chaired by British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, took place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
"President Zelenskyy told the UK in Parliament this week of the suffering still being felt by many Ukrainians. As he did so the IOC was continuing to ignore the international allies stepping up their efforts for peace and disregard how the Olympics will give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin the perfect platform to promote Russia and legitimize his illegal war," Frazer said in a statement Thursday.
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
"The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love," Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, wrote in a letter Thursday to IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic leaders.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that "threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for."
Political leaders of Ukraine's nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on.
"While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions."" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Hidalgo traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Mayor Vitali Klitschko and said she would "do everything" to convince the IOC. Russian athletes previously competed at the Olympics without national symbols as punishment for doping cases, but using a similar approach to deal with a war is not appropriate, Hidalgo argued.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules, move at different speeds or challenge the IOC's authority entirely.
The governing body of archery said last week that it was "very unlikely" to allow any neutral athletes to compete in 2023, including at Olympic qualifiers. The IOC's plan for Russians and Belarusians to qualify for the Olympics through competitions in Asia, instead of Europe, was not acceptable either, it added. The governing body of track and field has its own restrictions on the Russian team because of doping, and its president, Olympic great Sebastian Coe, has said his preferred solution would be for Russia to "get out of Ukraine."
It could also be up to the federations to implement the IOC's plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be "actively supporting the war in Ukraine." The IOC hasn't defined what constitutes support, while Russian officials have called it discriminatory and demanded the Olympic body scrap that condition entirely.
Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
"In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war," Guttsait wrote to Bach.
Many national Olympic committees have taken the IOC's line, but some like Ukraine and Latvia say they would rather boycott than compete against Russian athletes. Five sports bodies in the Nordic countries said Tuesday that they wanted a ban on athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus. | Olympic Sports |
DENVER -- When Kirsten Hawkes, a one-time elite fencer, reached out to her childhood coach for advice about starting her own fencing club, their meeting turned awkward right away.
It began, she said, with an unwanted kiss on the lips when the two met at a bar during a fencing tournament in Minneapolis last October. A few hours later, as she and the coach were saying good-bye, Hawkes said he forcibly kissed her — “stuck his tongue in my mouth,” she told investigators.
Hawkes filed a complaint against the then-assistant coach with the U.S. Paralympic team to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, whose mandate is to combat sex abuse in Olympic sports. But it didn’t take long for her to realize she was pitted against not just the coach, but one of the most renowned sports attorneys in the United States.
“It just led to a sense of helplessness,” Hawkes, 36, told The Associated Press about the process that led to her allegations against the 52-year-old coach ultimately being rejected.
“The whole point is, it shouldn’t be an undue burden for a victim to come forward. But that’s how it ended up.”
To Hawkes, the 10-month-long ordeal illustrates why the Denver-based SafeSport Center has come under increasing scrutiny for what critics, from athletes to high-ranking Olympics officials, contend is an opaque, confusing process that often takes far too long to resolve cases.
A draft report in September by a congressionally appointed commission obtained by the AP concluded the center was “in potential crisis." More than half of the 1,756 athletes, coaches and administrators in the Olympic movement surveyed said SafeSport wasn’t meeting its goals; nearly 25% disagreed or strongly disagreed when asked whether the center was successful in its mandate to sanction sex abuse in Olympic sports.
Formed in 2017 as the depths of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s crimes were being exposed by hundreds of his victims, SafeSport is responsible for resolving abuse cases involving not just Olympians but all athletes in Olympic-related sports down to the grassroots level — a scope that covers more than 11 million athletes, including those like Hawkes.
Since then, more than 1,900 offenders have been placed on SafeSport’s disciplinary database — showing, it says, that efforts to corral abusers who might otherwise go unchecked have been successful.
But Hawkes’ former coach never went on that list — not after SafeSport handed him a three-month probation in May, six months after its initial hearing in December, nor after he was immediately removed from his Paralympics coaching job by USA Fencing. Then, an eight-hour arbitration hearing in August overturned the probation and other sanctions.
In her ruling, the arbitrator noted her decision was partly influenced by the “different and contradictory messages” sent by the kiss that began the evening.
The AP is not identifying the coach because his name never landed on SafeSport’s disciplinary database. His probation only meant he had to disclose his status to anyone he worked for and faced harsher punishment if he committed another violation.
Hawkes’ complaint also included abuse accusations against the coach when she was a child in Huntington, New York. She told SafeSport investigators he touched her between her legs, squeezed her thigh, poked and touched her breasts using his fencing foil, and made comments about her breasts, starting when she was 12.
SafeSport told Hawkes those allegations were not pursued because New York state law and fencing rules at the time would not have resulted in charges or sanctions.
That policy undercuts what SafeSport touts as one of its biggest strengths — its authority to pursue cases without regard to statues of limitation.
“It’s frustrating to the center, as it is rightly to claimants, when rules or laws did not exist that prohibited conduct in the past” that SafeSport rules would punish today, communications director Hilary Nemchik said in an email.
Nemchik said the center is constantly exploring ways to improve and next year will announce changes stemming from feedback and internal review “on how to make its processes more timely, understandable and trauma-informed.”
Hawkes said the center’s response fed into her belief that the process is flawed if it won't even consider older allegations like hers.
“It has to be consistent,” she said. “If it doesn’t work for everybody, then it doesn’t work for anybody.”
Hawkes said as a kid, with her father not in the picture, her reaction to the coach’s alleged behavior was less horrified than it it should have been.
“I think about it now and it’s really disturbing,” she said. “There are a lot of things that happened when I was a kid and young adult where it was just less awkward" to let it pass, "than to just say ‘No.’”
Hawkes also said she was thinking about good memories from her childhood fencing days when she decided to meet with the coach to pick his brain about a business venture she was considering to open her own fencing center in San Diego.
Both said the evening began with the kiss on the lips, but in arbitration testimony, they disagreed over who initiated it.
Hawkes testified the coach began talking to her about her sex life and interlocking legs with her under the bar. She said she was uncomfortable, but tried to make the best of a difficult situation because she knew they would cross paths again at the tournament.
She said she answered “No” when the coach asked if she would invite him to her hotel room. As they parted ways in front of her hotel, Hawkes said she reached out for a hug and the coach leaned down and forcibly stuck his tongue in her mouth.
“I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no,’” she testified, adding that she pushed him away.
The arbitration decision says the coach "acknowledged kissing claimant that evening, stating he thought she wanted him to kiss her” — something Hawkes adamantly maintained was far from the vibe she was putting out.
In seeking evidence the kiss was unwanted, Hawkes said she asked the hotel for surveillance video and was told it was caught on camera. But the hotel refused to hand it over without a subpoena.
Hawkes said she filed a report with Minneapolis police but was told an unwanted kiss — the likes of which has dominated headlines in recent weeks following Spain's Women’s World Cup soccer victory, prompting an international outcry and the resignation of the Spanish soccer federation chief — did not rise to the level of sexual misconduct needed to open an investigation.
SafeSport, though chartered by Congress and acting as a quasi-legal agency, does not have the authority to compel the hotel to turn over the surveillance video. Hawkes said she realized she would have to hire an attorney and initiate a civil proceeding to access it, which she couldn’t afford.
Nemchik said because the center isn’t designed to act like a criminal or civil court system, it limits respondents’ ability to call witnesses and subpoena evidence — powers she said wouldn't “be appropriate and would potentially lead to more trauma for those involved.”
But to Hawkes, the arbitration hearing prompted by the coach's appeal of SafeSport's sanctions was, in fact, traumatic. It included cross-examination and what she described as “slut shaming” by the coach's lawyer, Howard Jacobs, a top sports attorney involved in some 100 SafeSport cases over the agency's six years.
In arbitration cases, a SafeSport attorney is tasked with defending the agency's sanctions. Claimants such as Hawkes are not required to participate, but she said she thought it was important to be heard.
The coach "was still working with children, and working with other fencers and athletes, and justice hadn’t been served,” Hawkes said.
It put her in a position to field what Jacobs concedes were tough-but-necessary questions — about Hawkes' sexual history and her actions the night she met the coach.
It also led Hawkes to wish she’d hired her own attorney — something she said she believed was unnecessary according to SafeSport rules and a center intake coordinator.
Also playing a key role was USA Fencing, which removed the coach from his Paralympic team job and limited his one-on-one contact with athletes after the complaint.
This was the latest in a line of cases in which a national agency overseeing an Olympic sport has been at odds with SafeSport, which has primary jurisdiction over abuse cases. In this instance, SafeSport imposed less-stringent sanctions than USA Fencing. The coach did not get his job back after the arbitration, but USA Fencing’s other penalties were lifted, meaning the coach was able to return to training fencers who might make the Paralympic team.
USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews expressed frustration about cases in which SafeSport rules sometimes hamstring his agency and others that “wish to act in the interests of safety and abuse-prevention of its members and are prevented to do so because of jurisdictional control.”
At a September hearing in Washington by a congressionally appointed committee looking into the Olympics, witnesses took special aim at SafeSport’s arbitration process.
“It has routinely resulted in re-traumatization of victims and reversal of well-founded claims,” said Marci Hamilton of the advocacy group Child USA.
SafeSport CEO Ju’Riese Colon called arbitration “one of the stickiest pieces we have to deal with.”
Even Jacobs, who estimated that about two-thirds of the 40 cases he’s taken to arbitration have resulted in sanctions being overturned or reduced, thinks the SafeSport system is broken.
“I certainly wouldn’t say the arbitration process is perfect, but they have to give somebody who’s accused some reasonable process to challenge it,” he said.
Hawkes called arbitration the final step of a frustrating process that left her feeling overmatched and barely heard.
“I didn’t feel like I could trust anyone,” she said. “I felt like I was dealing with this useless, for-show organization that didn’t solve anything.” | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- American and British boxing officials launched a breakaway group Thursday with the aim of saving boxing's place at the Olympics.
The new federation, to be called World Boxing, is a rival to the 77-year-old International Boxing Association, which has been excluded from organizing the sport at the Olympics amid longstanding concerns about fair judging and the IBA's ties to Russia.
World Boxing will be based in Switzerland and have a board consisting of athletes and officials, including USA Boxing president Tyson Lee and GB Boxing chief executive Matthew Holt. Lauren Price of Britain, a gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr. of the United States are on the board as athlete representatives.
Elections for a president and a new board are planned for November.
A standoff between the IBA and the International Olympic Committee meant boxing was left off the initial program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Boxing is part of next year's Paris Olympics, but it will be organized by the IOC.
The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 after years of concerns about its finances, governance and claims that fights at the 2016 Olympics were manipulated. Current IBA president Umar Kremlev took over in 2020, bringing financial backing from Russian state gas company Gazprom.
The IOC wants Russians to compete as neutral athletes in Olympic sports following the invasion of Ukraine, but Kremlev's IBA has allowed them to fight at the world championships with national flags and anthems, drawing another rebuke from the IOC.
The United States and Britain were among more than 10 countries that announced boycotts of the recent women's world championships and upcoming men's world championships because of Russia's position and wider concerns about the IBA. Kremlev said officials who backed a boycott were “worse than hyenas and jackals.”
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
COURCHEVEL, France -- Insisting sports had to respect the human rights of all athletes, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Sunday denied that the organisation was on the wrong side of history by helping Russians and Belarusians qualify for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
Bach and the IOC have faced a widespread backlash from Ukraine and its allies, including comments directed at him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, since setting out a path last month for some athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competition despite the war waged by their countries.
Asked Sunday at the Alpine skiing world championships if the IOC could be on the wrong side of history, Bach dismissed the suggestion.
“No, history will show who is doing more for peace. The ones who try to keep lines open, to communicate, or the ones who want to isolate or divide," the IOC leader said.
“We have shown this in the past with great success in the Olympic movement,” Bach said, pointing to the examples of North and South Korea, Israel and Palestine, and Kosovo. “Our role is bringing people together.”
Bach spoke with international media ahead of the men's downhill, the marquee race in a sport from which Russians and Belarusians were excluded since the war started last February. Ivan Kovbasnyuk was the only Ukrainian skier taking part.
Kovbasnyuk told The Associated Press earlier at the championships no Russians should be allowed at Paris, echoing comments by Ukrainian Olympic medalists including boxer Wladimir Klitschko, high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh and tennis player Elina Svitolina.
“Russia is killing my people. Not good situation for Olympic Committee,” Kovbasnyuk said in Courchevel.
Bach spoke Sunday of his support for “every Ukrainian athlete. We can from a human point of view understand their reactions, we share their suffering.”
"Every Ukrainian athlete can be rest assured that we are standing in full solidarity with them and that all their comments are taken very, very seriously into consideration,” he said.
The IOC has cited advice from United Nations human rights experts that banning athletes on the basis of their passport would be discrimination.
Germany and Japan were not invited to the 1948 London Olympics after they were the aggressors in World War II and South Africa was excluded from 1964-88 because of its racist Apartheid laws.
“The IOC being committed to human rights, like the international sports federations, has of course to address these serious concerns," Bach said Sunday, adding Olympic sports had a "unifying mission of bringing people together” amid other wars across the world.
Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not actively supported the war to try to qualify and compete as “neutral athletes” without a national identity such as team uniforms, flags and anthems. Governing bodies of each Olympic sport must decide if and how athletes could compete.
But Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from 36 countries Friday that Russian athletes have “no place” in Paris while the invasion of Ukraine continues.
“Unfortunately, what they have not addressed, at least so far as we can see, are these human rights concerns," Bach said Sunday. "There, we don’t have an answer but we have to take it seriously.”
Political leaders of Ukraine’s nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Any country that boycotts Paris will likely have their national Olympic body suspended by the IOC.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who visited Kyiv last week, has also said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
Asked Sunday about Zelenskyy's recent invitation to Bach in a nightly video address to visit Bakhmut at the front line of fighting, the IOC president said: “I have seen a tweet but there have been no ongoing discussions.”
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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Dunbar contributed from Geneva.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine has signaled it will no longer bar its athletes from competing against Russians who are taking part in sporting events as “neutral athletes," a significant easing of its boycott policy a year before the Paris Olympics.
A decree dated Wednesday says Ukrainian athletes and teams will only be required to boycott if competitors from Russia or Belarus are competing under their national flags or other symbols, or have signaled allegiance to either of those countries in another way.
The change in policy could smooth the way for Ukrainians to compete at next year's Paris Olympics. Ukrainian athletes previously boycotted events which allowed Russians and Belarusians as “Individual Neutral Athletes," the preferred term of the International Olympic Committee.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the decree would be implemented in practice, but at least one leading Ukrainian athlete competed against a “neutral” Russian competitor on Thursday.
Olympic champion Olga Kharlan competed against officially-neutral Russian opponent Anna Smirnova at the world fencing championships — an Olympic qualifier — on Thursday in Milan, Italy, winning their bout 15-7. However, Smirnova refused to leave after the bout in an apparent protest because Kharlan refused to shake hands at the end.
The IOC favors allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete as “neutral athletes" without national symbols in Olympic qualifying events. The governing bodies of most Olympic sports have either adopted the IOC policy already or are working on plans to do so.
The IOC still recommends barring Russia and Belarus from team sports and excluding athletes who are contracted to the military or security forces.
The IOC says it has not taken a final decision on allowing “neutral” Russian and Belarusian athletes at next year's Paris Olympics.
Ukraine had previously objected strongly to the policy, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying in January that “any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood.”
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AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- Russian athletes have “no place” at next year's Paris Olympics while their country’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from about 30 countries Friday.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus from sports ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. With qualifying in many sports already under way, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
“While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions,” Zelenskyy told the summit in an opening address by video link, according to a transcript issued by his office.
“And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood — even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee,” Zelenskyy said. “The International Olympic Committee needs honesty. Honesty it has unfortunately lost. Honesty that will help stop Russian terror and bring peace closer.”
Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's summit meeting, which was held online and chaired by British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, took place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“President Zelenskyy told the UK in Parliament this week of the suffering still being felt by many Ukrainians. As he did so the IOC was continuing to ignore the international allies stepping up their efforts for peace and disregard how the Olympics will give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the perfect platform to promote Russia and legitimize his illegal war,” Frazer said in a statement Thursday.
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
“The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love,” Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, wrote in a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic leaders that was published Thursday.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that “threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for.”
Political leaders of Ukraine’s nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
Hidalgo traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Mayor Vitali Klitschko and said she would “do everything” to convince the IOC. Russian athletes previously competed at the Olympics without national symbols as punishment for doping cases, and using a similar approach to deal with a war is not appropriate, Hidalgo argued.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules and move at different speeds, or challenge the IOC’s authority entirely.
The governing body of archery said last week that it was “very unlikely” to allow any neutral athletes to compete in 2023, including at Olympic qualifiers. The IOC’s plan for Russians and Belarusians to qualify for the Olympics through competitions in Asia, instead of Europe, was not acceptable either, it added. The governing body of track and field has its own restrictions on the Russian team because of doping and its president, Olympic great Sebastian Coe, has said his preferred solution would be for Russia to “get out of Ukraine.”
Olympic qualifiers are under way in some sports and start soon in many more. That leaves federations to grapple with how to reshape a process that they thought was finalized years ago.
It could also be up to them to implement the IOC’s plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be “actively supporting the war in Ukraine.” The IOC hasn’t defined what constitutes support, while Russian officials have called it discriminatory and demanded the Olympic body scrap that condition entirely.
Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
“In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war,” Guttsait wrote to Bach.
Many of the national Olympic committees have taken the IOC’s line, but some like Ukraine and Latvia say they would rather boycott than compete against Russian athletes. Five sports bodies in the Nordic countries said Tuesday they wanted a ban on athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- European lawmakers urged the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Paris Games rather than keep seeking ways to let them compete as neutrals in international sport.
The 46-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a two-hour session in Strasbourg, France, of its panel for sports issues. It was to help draft a future report on the question of barring the two countries' athletes and officials from the Olympic movement because of the military invasion of Ukraine.
With 15 months until the opening ceremony in Paris, Olympic sports bodies are weighing the IOC's formal request -- a reversal of its advice last year for exclusion -- to look at reintegrating some Russians and Belarusians into games qualifying as individuals, but not in team events.
"Imposing a war has to have a clear consequence. Sport also has to take its responsibility," Danish lawmaker Mogens Jensen said, adding the "only one clear message to send" was excluding athletes.
The Council of Europe was created after World War II to advocate for freedom and protection of minorities. It expelled Russia as a member last year.
Opening the session Tuesday, PACE president Tiny Kox, a longtime senator in the Netherlands, acknowledged that for many people letting Russians compete at the Paris Olympics was a "totally unthinkable" prospect that could "serve propaganda purposes of the aggressor."
The IOC was invited and Estonian lawmaker Indrek Saar expressed deep regret that the Olympic body's president Thomas Bach did not come to Strasbourg.
Instead, the IOC delegation consisted of former Olympic athletes from Armenia and Namibia, plus Francesco Ricci Bitti, who leads the umbrella group of Summer Games sports known as ASOIF.
"It is important for us that the athletes' representatives' views are given exposure," the IOC said in a statement, noting also that the next pending decisions on athlete eligibility are for ASOIF members and their rules.
Track and field's World Athletics has taken the strongest public stance against Russian athletes, and soccer's FIFA won a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal case to uphold its ban on Russian teams.
In statements to the hearing, Ricci Bitti, Armenian wrestler Arsen Julfalakyan and Namibian shooter Gaby Ahrens broadly echoed recent comments by Bach: that sports events cannot just involve nations which agree with each other, that governments deciding which athletes can compete would spell the end of international sports, and that the war in Ukraine is only one of 70 current "conflicts and crises" in the world.
"That's no explanation at all," British House of Lords member George Foulkes said of the claim of 70 conflicts. "We're here defending democracy. I found the special pleading for sportsmen quite sickening."
A UN-recognized human rights adviser often cited by the IOC and Bach, Alexandra Xanthaki, who has said exclusion from sport based on an athlete's passport is discrimination, said in a filmed speech "blanket retribution [against athletes] actually undermines peace."
That view and "the IOC's heavy reliance on alleged human rights violations [against Russian athletes] is unjustified and without legal merit," said Ukraine's deputy minister for sport, Andriy Chesnokov, in a speech delivered online.
Lawmakers in the room and British sports minister Lucy Frazer, in a filmed speech, raised concerns about the IOC's lack of detail defining neutrality, athletes' support for the war and their contractual ties to military and state security agencies that should bar them from competing. None of the lawmakers voiced support for the IOC's plan.
Frazer said the IOC had "limited focus" on traditional Russian funding from military and state-backed sports clubs, and there were likely loopholes to let contracts lapse before Paris then be renewed after.
French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said in a filmed speech the close historical links between sport and political power in Russia were "very much alive."
France could yet deny entry visas for Russians and Belarusians during the Olympics, while the IOC executive board chaired by Bach can still ban the countries depending how the war develops.
"This has nothing to do with the Olympic Games," Ricci Bitti insisted of the current eligibility process being done by sports bodies. "This is a sort of trial on the field of international competitions. | Olympic Sports |
Russian President Vladimir Putin shares a glass of champagne with Olympic Committee President Thomas Mann on 24 February 2014, the day marking the end of the Sochi Olympics and start of Russia's occupation of Crimea. Photo: RIA Novosti
The International Olympic Committee has allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics under a neutral flag. To be more precise, they recommended federations to admit athletes to participate in the Olympic competitions. Yes, there are some restrictions – Russians will not compete in team sports, those with contracts with CSKA [Central Sports Club of the Army] will also be excluded, and those actively supporting the war are undesirable. However, the final decision is left to the respective federations.
Does this mean, for example, that gymnast Nikita Nagorny – a three-time world champion, head of the youth military-patriotic public movement “Yunarmia” who called on his fans to send gifts to the invading army soldiers to support their fighting spirit – will not participate in the Olympics? Or will he, if he officially ends his relationship with the Russian National Guard?
Annalena Baerbok, Germany’s Foreign Minister, has already called the IOC’s decision a “slap in the face for the Ukrainian people.”
Explaining the decision, Thomas Bach, the organization’s president, referred to existing precedents. If NHL players with Russian passports are allowed to compete, why can some do it and others cannot? And, of course, the high-ranking sports official assured the general public that this decision is in no way related to his personal relationship with the President of the Russian Federation, with whom they have not been in contact for a year.
However, they sat next to each other at the Olympic tribune in Sochi, and the influential German publication Die Zeit called Bach a “well-paid Russian sports ambassador” because the IOC president constantly makes decisions favorable to Russia, despite Richard McLaren’s report on doping abuses in Russian Olympic sports, and other “incidents.”
I understand that an athlete’s career is short, and they spend their entire lives preparing for the most important competitions of their lives. However, under current circumstances, reasonable Russian athletes can compete under the flag of another country, while Ukrainian athletes not only lack the conditions for training, but they are being killed! Is it right to turn a blind eye to this situation?!
Of course, this does not necessarily mean that Thomas Bach received a bribe, and no one is accusing him of that. However, it is hard not to recall Swiss René Fasel, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, who tried to push through a decision to hold the Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus within his organization, and who has now accepted Russian citizenship along with a stake in an agro holding in the Krasnodar Krai.
Regrettably, the IOC has a history of making controversial decisions.
In 1948, the International Olympic Committee awarded a gold medal to Leni Riefenstahl for her film “Olympia,” a documentary epic about the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The German director did not receive the awarded prize because a denazification commission was studying her activities at that time. Namely, Riefenstahl was the author of the propaganda film “Triumph of the Will,” funded and commissioned by the NSDAP.
Her creative works included several other “ambiguous” films, such as “Day of Freedom! – Our Wehrmacht!” Nevertheless, this did not prevent Juan Antonio Samaranch from presenting 100-year-old Leni Riefenstahl with a medal in Lausanne in 2001. Did the award find its rightful hero?
Returning to the 1936 Olympics, which inspired the global community. By the time they were held, the Nuremberg racial laws were already in effect. Pierre de Coubertin, the honorary president of the IOC, called Hitler “one of the best creative spirits of our era,” and in his speech at the closing of the Berlin Olympics, urged the Nazis to “resist the disloyal and vile attacks of those who try to halt the progressive creative work.”
The German team, which did not admit German Jews, won the team championship at the 1936 Olympic Games, which was extremely important to Hitler personally. Whether the athletes want it or not, they serve as propaganda tools for the regime they represent. Coubertin was well aware of this, which is why he opposed the participation of Soviet teams in the Olympic movement.
I quoted the founder of modern Olympism without intending to tarnish his reputation. Everyone makes mistakes. Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, died in 1937 before witnessing the external aggression of Nazi Germany. But now the situation is obvious! Why walk into the same trap?
Gloria and Gerda Griffon are publicists from California, sisters in both spirit and profession. They are Ukrainians by spirit and by passport (one of the sisters). They are the authors of several collections of historical and cultural essays and the novel “Paradise Touched,” based on the events of 2014 in Ukraine.
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Tags: 2024 Olympics | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- After nearly 20 months of waging war in Ukraine, Russia was suspended by the IOC on Thursday for a land grab in sports administration.
The International Olympic Committee's executive board imposed the suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee for a breach of the Olympic Charter -- a book of rules and principles for international sports bodies -- by incorporating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute last week by accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members.
"(This) unilateral decision," the International Olympic Committee said in a statement from Mumbai, India, "constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter."
The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sporting events as neutral athletes. However, it did suggest rising frustration from the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, who can ultimately decide to impose a blanket ban on all Russian athletes from next year's Paris Olympics.
"(The IOC) reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time," the IOC said.
The Russian Olympic Committee criticized the IOC for "another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations."
However, the IOC under Bach has often been seen as too sympathetic to Russia during a decade-long doping scandal by never excluding all the country's athletes and teams from any Olympics despite proven allegations of state-backed cheating and tampering with evidence.
The latest decision by the IOC board comes seven months after it publicly supported Russian athletes by advising governing bodies of Olympic sports to find ways of including them in qualifying events for the Paris Games.
That IOC policy to ease a blanket ban was in defiance of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many Ukrainian athletes to maintain the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Those vetting processes by different sports will continue despite the IOC suspension imposed Thursday, which does not affect Belarus.
"The suspension of the national Olympic committee doesn't affect in any way the participation of independent athletes," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference after the board meeting.
Adams said the Russian Olympic Committee had been informed of its suspension before the IOC announced it publicly.
Russia remains excluded from international events in team sports, despite a short-lived and failed attempt this month by European soccer body UEFA to put Russian under-17 teams into qualifying groups for their European Championship.
The new ban removes the right of the ROC to get funding from the Switzerland-based IOC, which is worth millions of dollars in each four-year Olympic funding cycle. Russian officials reportedly have been weighing legal action to access the money that was not being paid during the war.
The Russian Olympic Committee can challenge the IOC decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"ROC, as a participant in the international sports movement, reserves the right to protect its own interests, as well as the interests of athletes and organizations of a sovereign country, which we represent in good faith," the Russian Olympic body said. | Olympic Sports |
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Badminton upheld its ban on Russian and Belarusian players in international competitions on Thursday, days before Olympic qualifying begins.
Badminton’s qualifying period for next year’s Paris Olympics starts on May 1 and uses a calendar-year ranking.
Meanwhile, modern pentathlon said it would set up a “pathway” for athletes from the two countries to return but didn't commit to a date.
The Badminton World Federation cited security concerns and the need for “more clarity” on the International Olympic Committee's “complex criteria” to admit some Russians and Belarusians as neutral athletes without national symbols but keep excluding others, such as military personnel or those who have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
The IOC also recommends allowing athletes from only Russia and Belarus to compete individually and not in team sports or “team events in individual sports.” That raises the prospect in badminton of players being allowed to play singles but not doubles as a national team, a point the BWF did not address directly in its statement on Thursday.
The recommendations from the IOC last month aren't binding on sports' governing bodies, which can implement them as they wish. The IOC has said it hasn't made a decision on what happens at the Paris Olympics.
Modern pentathlon's governing body, known as the UIPM, said it would follow the IOC's recommendations but didn't set any timetable. It will be up to an “independent panel” to decide when and how Russians and Belarusians are readmitted, the governing body said.
“It is our firm belief that sport should be politically neutral and now, more than ever, must act as a vehicle for peace and a symbol of solidarity between athletes,” the UIPM said.
Other Olympic sports which have followed the IOC and said they want to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes include wrestling, taekwondo and triathlon. Athletics, weightlifting and equestrian have all maintained bans.
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PARIS (AP) — They creep, they crawl, they feast on your blood as you sleep. They may travel in your clothes or backpacks to find another person worth dining on — on the subway, or at the cinema. Bedbugs go where you go, and they have become a nightmare haunting France for weeks.
The government has been forced to step in to calm an increasingly anxious nation that will host the Olympic Games in just over nine months — a prime venue for infestations of the crowd-loving insects.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a meeting of ministers for Friday to tackle the bedbug crisis. The country’s transport minister, Clement Beaune, met this week with transportation companies to draw up a plan for monitoring and disinfecting — and to try to ease what some have called a national psychosis inflamed by the media.
READ MORE: Costly and complex cleanup of Seine River underway ahead of 2024 Paris Olympics
“There is no resurgence of cases,” Beaune said, telling reporters that 37 cases reported in the bus and Metro system and a dozen others on trains proved unfounded — as did viral videos on social media of tiny creatures supposedly burrowing in the seat of a fast train.
Still, bedbugs have plagued France and other countries for decades. The insects the size of an apple seed that neither jump nor fly get around as easily as people travel from city to city and nation to nation, and they have become increasingly resistant to insecticides. If that’s not enough to make you itchy: Bedbugs can stay alive for a year without a meal.
Without any blood, “they can slow their metabolism and just wait for us,” said Jean-Michel Berenger, an entomologist who raises bedbugs in his lab in the infectious diseases section of the Mediterranee University Hospital in Marseille. The carbon dioxide that all humans give off “will reactivate them … and they’ll come back to bite you.”
For now, Berenger said, this much is certain: “Bedbugs have infested the media.”
Yet bad dreams are most often fed by a touch of reality.
Salim Dahou, biocide technician from the company Hygiene Premium, inspects an apartment in order to treat it against bedbugs in L’Hay-les-Roses, near Paris, on Sept. 29, 2023. Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/ Reuters
More than one household in 10 in France was infested with bedbugs between 2017 and 2022, according to a report by the National Agency for Health and Food Safety. The agency relied on a poll by Ipsos to query people on a topic that many prefer to avoid discussing because they fear going public with a bedbug problem will stigmatize them.
But silence is a mistake, experts say. No social category is immune to finding bedbugs in their clothing, blankets or mattresses.
“It’s not at all a hygiene problem. The only thing that interests (bedbugs) is your blood,” said Berenger, the entomologist. “Whether you live in a dump or a palace, it’s the same thing to them.”
Business is booming for companies that eradicate the little brown insects, a process that often starts with detection by dogs trained to sniff out the special odor that bedbugs give off. If an infestation is confirmed, technicians move in to zap the area with super hot steam. Heat and cold are enemies of bedbugs. One French government recommendation for victims is to put well-wrapped clothes in the freezer.
Kevin Le Mestre, director of Lutte Antinuisible, said his company is getting “dozens and dozens” of calls. In the past, he said, people often didn’t react, even to bites.
“Now, as soon as they spot a bite, they don’t ask themselves whether it really comes from bedbugs or not. They call us straight away,” said a pest control technician for the company, Lucas Pradalier, as he disinfected a Paris apartment. A sniffer dog detected bedbugs in a baseboard and between floorboards.
The French public began moving into panic mode about a month ago after reports of bedbugs at a Paris movie theater. Videos began popping up on social networks, showing little insects on trains and buses.
READ MORE: Pioneering athletes breaking down barriers to breastfeeding in Olympic sports
Now, both Socialists and centrists of President Emmanuel Macron’s party want to propose bills to fight bedbugs. Far-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot recently brought a vial of bedbugs to the Parliament to chastise the government for, in her view, letting the creatures run rampant.
Bedbugs, an age-old curse on humans, seemingly disappeared with treatment by harsh, now-banned insecticides. They made a reappearance in the 1950s, especially in densely populated cities like New York. And they travel the world thanks to commerce and tourism.
That adds up to a bedbug challenge for the Paris Olympics starting in July.
“All human population movements are profitable for bedbugs because they go with us, to hotels, in transport,” said Berenger.
Beaune, the transport minister, is hopeful that steps can be taken to ease the public’s fear. But, he conceded, “It’s hell, these bedbugs.”
Associated Press journalist Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed to this report.
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'What cycling has done is disgraceful!': Former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies calls for other sports to follow FINA's lead after the swimming world governing body's decided to ban transgender athletes from elite women's racesSharron Davies says sports should ban transgender athletes from competing FINA voted for trans women to not be allowed to enter female events The former British Olympian called the decision a 'victory for women's sport'The governing body say they are working on an 'open' category for future events Published: 17:30 EDT, 19 June 2022 | Updated: 18:06 EDT, 19 June 2022 Sharron Davies has called for other sports to follow swimming's lead after the seismic decision to ban transgender athletes from elite women's races.Swimming's world governing body, FINA, on Sunday voted through a major new policy stating that trans women who have 'experienced any part of male puberty' can no longer enter female events.The move was hailed as a 'victory for women's sport' by former British Olympic swimmer Davies, who has been a long-time campaigner on the issue. However, the 1980 silver medallist now wants other Olympic sports to copy FINA's strict stance. Last week, cycling updated their own rules but were criticised for continuing to base transgender inclusion on testosterone levels and admitting they could not 'eliminate all advantages held by a transgender'.'I am so proud of FINA for at last being the first to be brave enough to stand up for female athletes,' a tearful Davies told Sportsmail following Sunday's announcement. 'This is a very good move and I hope now that all the other associations pick it up.'I think what cycling has done is disgraceful. They have basically said they are happy for female athletes to compete with a disadvantage. I'm afraid that is not acceptable in a world where we don't believe in sex discrimination.' Sharron Davies has called for more sports to ban transgender athletes from female events Cate Campbell was one of the sports stars to speak against trans women in female racesThe new swimming policy came following an Extraordinary General Congress when members heard a report from a transgender task force comprising leading medical, legal and sports figures.American Summer Sanders, who won two gold medals at Barcelona 1992, and Australia's current four-time Olympic champion Cate Campbell were among those from the sport to speak out against trans women competing in female races.The rule – which states any trans athlete must have completed transition by the age of 12 - was passed with 71 per cent of the vote from 152 FINA members and comes into force as soon as today (Mon). FINA will also establish an 'open' category for swimmers whose gender identity is different from their birth sex.'FINA's approach in drafting this policy was comprehensive, science-based and inclusive, and, importantly, emphasised competitive fairness,' said the governing body's executive director Brent Nowicki. Lia Thomas became the first transgender swimmer to win the highest US national college titleFINA president Husain Al-Musallam added: 'We have to protect the rights of our athletes to compete, but we also have to protect competitive fairness at our events, especially the women's category at FINA competitions.'The debate around transgender athletes in swimming catapulted into the spotlight in March whenLia Thomas became the first known transgender swimmer to win the highest US national college title.The 22-year-old won the women's 500-yard freestyle having swam for the Pennsylvanian men's team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in 2019.Thomas had stated her aim was to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024, but FINA's new policy bans her from racing against women at the Games or any other international events. Thomas had previously stated her aim was to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024'It's the first victory and an extremely important one,' added Davies. 'I can't tell you how hard it has been. I have hardly worked for three years because the trans activists made my life hell.'But I was so determined because nobody stood up for my generation way back in the '70s and '80s. I was absolutely determined another generation wasn't going to deal with that. Today's swimmers will be relieved.'Campaign group Fair Play for Women also said FINA had 'done the right thing and brought back fairness for women and girls in competitive swimming'.However, 'Athlete Ally' – the group who organised a letter of support for Thomas earlier this year – tweeted: 'FINA's new eligibility criteria for transgender athletes and athletes with intersex variations is discriminatory, harmful, unscientific and not in line with the 2021 IOC principles. If we truly want to protect women's sports, we must include all women.' Summer Sanders has also spoken out against trans women competing in female races Advertisement | Olympic Sports |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Russian athletes were given conditions Tuesday that could lead to their return to international sports events, though the International Olympic Committee said its advice to sporting bodies did not include the 2024 Paris Games.
Though the IOC gave guidance rather than orders to Olympic sports, it still defies repeated calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to exclude all Russian athletes and teams while his country is being occupied and attacked.
Athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus who have actively supported the war in Ukraine, or are “contracted to the military or national security agencies”, should not be cleared to compete as neutral individuals, IOC President Thomas Bach said.
Russia and Belarus teams “cannot be considered” for a return to international competitions, Bach said at a news conference after a meeting of the executive board he chairs.
Team events such as relays or mixed doubles or team all-around in gymnastics should also be off limits, the IOC said in a document explaining its guidance
The IOC’s recommendations to the governing bodies of Olympic sports “do not concern” the Paris Games that opens in 16 months’ time.
“The IOC will take this decision at the appropriate time at its full discretion,” Bach said.
In the Olympic Charter, article 44.3 states: “Nobody is entitled as of right to participate in the Olympic Games.”
The individual Olympic sports must now decide the entry and eligibility conditions for their events, which include ongoing qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.
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Standing in the boardroom of New York's state-run Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid, CEO Mike Pratt spread out photographs of Olympic sports venues in Beijing, Berlin and Sarajevo that lie abandoned and in ruins.
His message was plain: This almost happened here.
Pratt convinced New York state to bet on a different future, investing huge amounts of taxpayer cash rebuilding and modernizing the sports authority's venues, most dating back to the 1980 Winter Olympics.
"The last six years, the total capital investment in the Olympic authority was $552 million," Pratt said. "These are unprecedented investments in our facilities, no question about it. But the return on investment is immediate."
NPR found New York state has actually pumped far more dollars into the organization since Pratt took the helm, with government documents showing the total outlay closer to $620 million.
The state also spent an additional $46.5 million co-sponsoring the World University Games, a kind of mini-Olympics held in Lake Placid last January; and contributed another $6.5 million to refurbish the main retail street of Lake Placid, a village of roughly 2,300 year-round residents.
The goal, according to state officials, is to boost jobs and tourism. The Olympic authority is one of upstate New York's biggest employers, with roughly 1,500 seasonal and year-round employees.
In addition to operating sport venues, the organization manages a state-funded convention center and three alpine ski areas in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains.
But with the price tag for revitalizing the authority's venues on track to top $1 billion, some critics question whether Olympic sports and winter tourism are a smart bet for the region's economy.
"When you put half a billion dollars into renovating what they're calling heritage Olympic venues, you're making the investment without having a good part of the investment ever have a chance to pay off," said Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College who studies public funding for large-scale sports projects.
"We do something special here"
Zimbalist points out in many parts of the world, cities abandon or dismantle competition sites after they host Winter Olympics.
The reason is simple: They're hugely expensive to maintain and often have limited audience appeal. That's especially true in the US, where winter sports like Nordic combined, biathlon and sled racing have never caught on.
"It becomes really problematic to make an economic argument in favor of [maintaining these venues]," said sports economics Andrew Zimbalist. "It's difficult to understand even in the best of circumstances how these investments would pay off over time."
But beginning in 2017, the Olympic authority's Pratt mobilized a group of influential Olympic authority board members to lobby then-Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Their argument was simple: The solution for the Olympic authority's woes wasn't austerity. The solution was a lot more taxpayer cash.
The Cuomo and Hochul administrations agreed and began approving budget requests that now average $100-120 million a year.
According to Pratt, this scale of spending is what the organization needed to finally fulfill its mission as keeper of New York's Olympic heritage.
"We do something special here," he said. "We still host year-round, high-level training and competitions. We put spectators and tourists right next to elite athletes."
Pratt points out Lake Placid's athletic venues once again meet the exacting standards required for international competition, and by the organization's reckoning crowds and revenues are growing.
"Where is everybody?"
Last winter, the Olympic authority hosted the World University Games, featuring hundreds of college athletes from around the world.
It was the biggest sports event in Lake Placid since the 1980 Winter Games and was meant to serve as a coming-out party and a proof of concept for the revitalized organization.
But the 11-day event drew meager crowds. Event organizers acknowledge selling only $706,000 worth of tickets, a tiny amount given the event's half-billion-dollar price tag.
"There were loud voices saying, Where is everybody?" said Marc Galvin, a bookstore owner and Lake Placid village trustee who also heads the Lake Placid Business Association.
"There were expectations out there that people thought it was going to be like the 1980 Games where there were droves of people. We just didn't have the spectators and the fans here."
"Would I have liked to have seen a lot more spectators?" said Olympic authority board president Martens. "Yes. We did not market the games well enough."
After spending massive amounts of money, the Olympic authority wound up receiving almost no revenue from the event.
"You know in hindsight there were a lot of things that could have been done differently and more efficiently," Pratt said.
New York officials say stumbles like this one represent growing pains and aren't reason to doubt New York's vision of Lake Placid as a revitalized world class winter sport destination that will sustain jobs for decades to come.
Betting on winter sports in an era of climate change
But New York's bet on winter sports and tourism faces another big risk — climate change. Upstate New York's winters are already eroding and Olympic authority officials acknowledge they don't know how warmer seasons will affect operations.
"It's a question I can't answer fully," said authority board president Joe Martens. "I just don't know the answer. All the metrics in climate are going in the wrong direction at this point."
The organization already had a taste of what a warmer future might look like. In 2016, Lake Placid received roughly half as much snow as typical. Week after week, rain fell instead of snow. The organization's revenue from ski mountains and tourist venues plummeted.
"We were concerned about [the Olympic authority] not being able to survive," recalled Jim McKenna, head of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, based in Lake Placid.
To keep the organization afloat, and help it make payroll, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo raided millions of dollars from the coffers of the MTA, the state-run transportation authority in New York City that operates subways and buses.
State officials acknowledged the money was needed to "help stabilize the sports authority's finances."
Zimbalist, the economist at Smith University who studies public funding for sports projects, predicted the Olympic authority will continue to need big infusions of taxpayer cash — with or without climate change.
"New York's cost here isn't just half a billion dollars," he said. "The maintenance and updating of these facilities that will go on for decades and decades."
NPR asked the Olympic' authority's Pratt for his estimate how much public money will be necessary to sustain the organization. "It's beyond the scope of what I know," he said. "I think [subsidies] will decrease and level out."
So far, however, the organization's reliance on taxpayers is still growing, not decreasing.
At a board meeting in May, the Olympic authority's board voted to boost its request for state subsidies again — asking New York's legislature for roughly $120 million dollars each year at least through 2027.
-A version of this story first appeared in Adirondack Life magazine. | Olympic Sports |
Bethany Hamilton, a pro surfer best known for her memoir Soul Surfer and her arm being bitten off in a shark attack, announced she would no longer compete in World Surf League events after the organization updated its policies to allow trans women to compete in women’s events.
On Sunday, Hamilton, 33, posted on Instagram in response to the organization's policy, stating that she was speaking up for the other women on tour who fear being ostracized for their views.
The WSL’s new policy requires transgender women to maintain testosterone levels lower than 5 nanomoles per liter for at least a year, in addition to having a “female” or “X” gender marker on a passport or national identity card.
For transgender men, the WSL does not state any hormone threshold and only requires athletes to have a “male” gender marker on official identification documents.
“Is a hormone level an honest and accurate depiction that someone is indeed a male or female? Is it as simple as this?” Hamilton asked in her Instagram video.
Of course not.
Hormone testing has long been leveraged against not only trans women but cisgender women who have naturally high levels of testosterone.
South African runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympian once deemed the world’s fastest woman, was barred in 2017 from competing in future Olympics because she refused to take drugs to reduce her body’s own high testosterone levels.
But that’s not what Hamilton is talking about.
The pro surfer said she wanted to address the rule regarding “male-bodied individuals'' in women’s sports and make sure the future of women’s surfing is protected from what she sees as “glimpses of male-bodied dominance.”
In response to Hamilton’s trans-exclusionary comments, some creators on TikTok made videos siding with sharks — referencing the traumatic shark attack in which the then-13-year-old surfer’s left arm was bitten off.
The pressure to define a policy for transgender surfers intensified after Sasha Jane Lowerson became the first openly trans woman to win the women’s open in Australia in May 2022.
“Unfortunately, when a trans athlete is successful a lot of people want to jump up and down. But there are also a lot of people that want to celebrate it, which is a positive thing,” Lowerson told the Inertia magazine after her victory.
Inertia also reported last week that WSL Chief of Sport Jessi Miley-Dyer and Chief Medical Officer Allan MacKillop came to the policy decision together.
“The WSL will not test transgender athletes [for testosterone levels] ourselves,” Miley-Dyer said. “Athletes will arrange their own testing, then come to our chief medical officer to have a confidential conversation and show medical documentation.”
Many Olympic sports do not currently have an official policy regarding hormone levels. The International Cycling Union requires transgender women athletes to test below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for two years to be eligible, which is considered an average range for cisgender women.
Yet across the US, numerous state legislatures are pushing bills that would restrict the access of trans youth from participating on the sports team that aligns with their gender identity.
Hamilton proposed that the WSL create a separate division for trans athletes altogether — and she isn’t alone. After Surfing Australia, a part of the International Surfing Association, shared guidance that was inclusive of transgender surfers, pro surfer Kelly Slater and others called for a “trans division.” | Olympic Sports |
Russia has been proscribed by multiple international sports bodies over the last decade for doping violations and geopolitical aggression.
After nearly 20 months of waging war in Ukraine, Russia has been suspended by the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, for breaching the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
The IOC's executive board imposed the suspension on Thursday, a week after after Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute by "accepting" the councils in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members.
The "unilateral decision," the IOC said in a statement from Mumbai, India, "constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter."
The four regions concerned have all been illegally annexed by Russia with very little international recognition. Donetsk and Luhansk were first taken over after the Russian incursion in 2014, while Kherson and Zaporizhzhia have fallen under partial Russian control since the invasion that began last year.
The road to 2024
The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sporting events as neutral athletes. However, it did suggest rising frustration from the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, who can ultimately decide to impose a blanket ban on all Russian athletes from next year's Paris Olympics.
The IOC said it "reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time."
The Russian Olympic Committee criticised the IOC for "another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations."
However, the IOC under Bach has often been seen as too sympathetic to Russia during a decade-long doping scandal. It has never excluded all the country's athletes and teams from any Olympics despite proven allegations of state-backed cheating and tampering with evidence.
The latest decision by the IOC board comes seven months after it publicly supported Russian athletes by advising governing bodies of Olympic sports to find ways of including them in qualifying events for the Paris Games.
That IOC policy to ease a blanket ban was in defiance of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many Ukrainian athletes to maintain the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Vetting processes by different sports bodies will continue despite the IOC suspension imposed Thursday, which does not affect Belarus.
"The suspension of the national Olympic committee doesn't affect in any way the participation of independent athletes," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference after the board meeting.
Adams said the Russian Olympic Committee had been informed of its suspension before the IOC announced it publicly.
Russia remains excluded from international events in team sports, despite a short-lived and failed attempt this month by European soccer body UEFA to put Russian under-17 teams into qualifying groups for their European Championship.
The new ban removes the right of the ROC to get funding from the Switzerland-based IOC, which is worth millions of dollars in each four-year Olympic funding cycle. Russian officials reportedly have been weighing legal action to access the money that was not being paid during the war.
The Russian Olympic Committee can challenge the IOC decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"ROC, as a participant in the international sports movement, reserves the right to protect its own interests, as well as the interests of athletes and organisations of a sovereign country, which we represent in good faith," the Russian Olympic body said. | Olympic Sports |
DUESSELDORF, Germany -- A year before the Paris Olympics, and nearly a year-and-a-half since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials governing many of the sports on the 2024 program are still split on how to treat Russian athletes.
Increasingly, various governing bodies are allowing them back into Olympic qualifying competitions as neutral competitors without national flags or anthems. Most sports initially barred Russians from competing soon after last year's full-scale invasion.
The International Olympic Committee strongly backs those moves even as the body itself says it hasn't decided if athletes from Russia and ally Belarus can compete at the Paris Games. However, the IOC has delayed action on the one sport whose qualification it runs in-house, boxing.
Most of the sports which have allowed Russians to return also followed IOC advice on its preferred name — "individual neutral athletes” — and to keep barring those who are under contract with the military or who have supported the war publicly. The IOC also recommends blocking Russia from team sports like soccer or basketball.
Ukraine is opposed to any Russians competing. Since last year, Ukrainian athletes and national teams have been boycotting competitions which allow Russians back in, a policy enforced in April by a government decree. Activists from Ukraine have been trawling Russian athletes' social media for pro-war posts that could disqualify them from competing.
Here is a look at the situation for Russian and Ukrainian athletes in key sports on the Olympic program:
TRACK AND FIELD
World Athletics excluded athletes from Russia and Belarus from competitions after the invasion of Ukraine. That remains in place “for the foreseeable future," after a vote of the World Athletics council in March. President Sebastian Coe said at the time that deaths and destruction in Ukraine have only “hardened” his resolve to keep a ban in place.
SWIMMING
World Aquatics is one of the sports taking Russia's return slowly. It has said it favors Russia and Belarus returning to its sports — swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming — but set up a task force that won't report back with suggestions until late July. That means no Russians at the world championships this month in Japan.
TENNIS
The big exception among Olympic sports in tennis. The men’s and women’s tours didn’t exclude Russian or Belarusian players when Russia launched its invasion. They even fined tournaments including Wimbledon which did impose restrictions.
Ukrainian players continued competing but often refuse to shake hands with Russians or Belarusians. Aryna Sabalenka, who is from Belarus and won the Australian Open in January, has been questioned about her past support for Belarus’ authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko. She has said she does not support the war.
Russian and Belarusian players still can’t enter national team competitions like the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. The International Tennis Federation hasn’t made a final decision on the Olympics but has plenty of time because qualification is decided by the June 2024 world rankings.
GYMNASTICS
Gymnasts from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to take part in sanctioned competitions as “individual neutral athletes” from the start of 2024.
That timetable pushed their return beyond the world championships in early October in Belgium.
Russian gymnasts have been some of the most vocal supporters of the war. Days after the invasion, Ivan Kuliak wore a pro-war “Z” symbol on a competition podium while standing next to a Ukrainian athlete. He was suspended for a year. Other Russian gymnasts appeared on stage at a rally in support of the war, and Olympic gold medalist Nikita Nagornyy heads a military youth organization in Russia.
BOXING
This is the one sport the IOC has total control over, but that doesn't mean a quick decision. The IOC is running Olympic boxing in Paris and qualifiers in-house after a long-running feud with the International Boxing Association and its Russian president. Qualifiers were held at the European Games in June but the host nation, Poland, refused to allow any Russian athletes. A plan to qualify Russians via the Asian Games has been suggested but not confirmed. That could mean any Russian return only happens at two last-chance qualifying tournaments in early 2024.
COMBAT SPORTS
Sports like fencing, judo and taekwondo have seen some of the bitterest disputes. Ukraine boycotted the world championships in both judo and taekwondo, taking a big hit to its Olympic qualifying hopes, after Russians were allowed to compete. In judo the “neutral” delegation of Russian athletes included some previously listed by the Defense Ministry as holding military ranks. The International Judo Federation, which had last year opposed excluding any Russians, said all the Russian competitors were employed at a state sports training facility.
Ukraine is also boycotting some events at the fencing world championships in Italy, another key Olympic qualifier. The International Fencing Federation — whose former president, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, said last year he was stepping aside from his duties — has been a strong supporter of reintroducing Russian and Belarusian fencers this year. Competition organizers in several European countries canceled their events in protests, disrupting the Olympic qualifying calendar, and the European Championships were stripped of their status as a qualifier when Poland refused to allow Russians to compete.
TEAM SPORTS
Don't expect to see Russian teams competing in soccer, volleyball, basketball or handball at the Paris Olympics. The IOC still backs excluding Russia from team sports and no Olympic sport has yet defied that regulation. In some events, like men's basketball and soccer, Russia has already missed its last chance to qualify. The IOC also recommends a ban on “team events in individual sports” like relay races or the team all-around in gymnastics.
OTHER SPORTS
Russia is boycotting weightlifting events after its team refused to sign a waiver accepting the conditions for “neutral” status, including a promise to “continue to abstain from expressing any support to the war.” Belarusian athletes signed and are competing.
Some sports like archery have delayed things further. World Archery is exploring plans for a Russian return but said in February it would be “very unlikely” this year, potentially restricting Russia to a limited number of events in the months just before the Olympics.
Canoeing is planning to allow Russians back in some Olympic qualifiers but is giving the local organizers of each competition a veto. Rowing will only allow single sculls and pairs, no larger Russian crews.
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.
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AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A Congressionally formed panel exploring the inner-workings of the U.S. Olympic enterprise hinted at proposing potentially radical changes to a business that has been operating under the same framework for more than 40 years.
“We tend to make sport policy in this country in a very reactive posture, a very crisis-oriented posture,” the panel's co-chair, Dionne Koller, said Thursday. “We’ve made some very important policy changes that way. But this commission is an opportunity to be proactive, and an opportunity to think big.”
Koller said the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics has begun receiving feedback from athletes, administrators and the general public on 10 aspects of the Olympics and how they are run in the United States.
The 16-person panel was created by Congress as part of a bill that sought better oversight of the Olympics in this country. After a two-year delay getting started, mainly due to red tape and indifference from Congress, Koller's group has scheduled a public hearing for September with plans to release its report next spring.
Speaking at the advocacy group Project Play's annual conference, Koller said changes might be appropriate for the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the landmark law first passed in 1978 that set the template for the U.S. Olympic system.
“There's no way to do that without looking at the original act and accounting for the fact that this is not the 1970s anymore,” Koller said. “I think it's really important to have an understanding of history, where we've been, where sport was at the time, but also where we are today in sports.”
Koller views her group as the 2020s version of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports, which was created by President Gerald Ford in the mid-70s and set the stage for the Stevens Act.
Congress formed the 21st-century commission as part of the "Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020,” that was, itself, a reaction to the outrage spawned by the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandal and the inability of Olympic leaders to identify or react to the problem.
One part of that law called on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to more than double funding for the newly created U.S. Center for SafeSport, one of dozens of Olympic-related agencies that the commission has been asked to examine.
Koller said the commission has collected “tens of thousands of pages of documents,” and collected responses from more than 2,000 surveys from across the Olympic landscape.
Among the areas the commission is looking at is finances. Under the terms of the Stevens Act, the government does not fund Olympics sports in the United States, leaving thousands of athletes largely beholden to money derived from sponsorships, media contracts (mostly from NBC) and fundraising.
That has led to decades of feuding between athletes who scrap for stipends, salaries, endorsement deals, health care and retirement and who often point to six- and seven-figure salaries made by some Olympic leaders as the most tangible sign that the system is out of balance.
One possible area for the commission to explore could be whether its time to rethink government's (non)role in funding the USOPC, its athletes and their corresponding sports organizations (National Governing Bodies). The NGBs have been under increasing pressure to comply to safe-sport rules and best-practices governance.
“If that's what the commission comes forth with, we would be welcome participants in that,” said Kathryn Carson, the chair of USA Gymnastics who was part of the Project Play panels. “There needs to be an understanding of what our role is now, how it's expanded. It's very clear how that's being expanded, and we also need to have additional resources for NGBs who might only have a few people on their staff.”
Koller's commission struggled getting off the ground and, for a time, couldn't even get calls back from some of the same lawmakers who proposed forming the panel. The USOPC, which has rewritten its bylaws and made dozens of changes it portrays as helping athletes, has generally welcomed the commission's work.
Still, possibly the biggest unknown is whether the USOPC or Congress will heed the recommendations the commission makes. Koller said regardless of what is adopted and what is ignored, the commission is dedicated to “the most fair process possible” as it dives into complex subject matter that rarely elicits across-the-board agreement.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports. | Olympic Sports |
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Olympic sports bodies meet Wednesday amid ongoing uncertainty about if and how Russian athletes could return to their competitions ahead of the 2024 Paris Games.
The annual meeting of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) comes more than two months after the IOC detailed advice on how individual athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus could be reintegrated as neutral athletes.
Exactly how that neutrality is being defined is not very much clearer now as key qualification events start for the Olympics that open in July next year.
The International Olympic Committee in March advised that some Russians and Belarusians could return in individual events but not team sports, if they had not actively supported the war in Ukraine, and are not contracted to “military or national security agencies.”
The IOC also suggested ASOIF and the winter sports umbrella group, AIOWF, could oversee “creating a single independent panel” to run and “harmonize” the neutral status evaluations of hundreds of athletes, coaches and support staff.
That has not happened and there is no move Wednesday on the ASOIF agenda in the IOC’s home city of Lausanne toward taking on that complex responsibility.
IOC president Thomas Bach will make a speech to leaders of governing bodies on the 32-sport Paris program who have ultimate control over their own events and who competes in them.
Bach and the IOC led calls within days of the invasion of Ukraine in February of last year to banish Russia from international sport, including to protect the security of athletes.
As the war continued and the 2024 Olympics approached, the IOC and Bach started to suggest it was discrimination to exclude all Russians and Belarusians. If approved to compete, the IOC said Russian and Belarusians would be not to be allowed to use their flag, anthem or uniforms in national colors.
ASOIF officials previously cautioned “each sport has different realities,” including where Olympic qualification events are being hosted and the influence of Ukraine’s allies in sports and governments, especially in Europe.
In gymnastics, a top-tier Summer Games sport where Russians excel, a decision on reintegrating them was pushed back to at least July. World championships that are a key qualifier for Paris start Sept. 30 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Track and field took the strongest stance against Russia with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe citing deaths of hundreds of athletes in Ukraine that “hardened my resolve.”
The International Judo Federation let some Russians compete in Qatar at its worlds this month, an event which was boycotted by Ukraine. The IJF’s honorary president until last year was Vladimir Putin, who is an expert judoka.
The complicated situation in fencing -- Bach’s own sport where the long-time governing body president, Kremlin-connected billionaire Alisher Usmanov, stepped aside while under international sanctions – saw several Olympic champions from Russia denied neutral status this month.
They included the daughter of Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who then criticized the neutral eligibility process as a “farce” and a “thinly veiled suspension.” Pozdnyakov also warned of a Russian boycott of events.
Olympic sports officials are weighing their decisions. In Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, plus past and current Olympic medalists, insist Russia must be excluded from Paris.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo also said there should be no Russian delegation at the Olympics if the war continues.
Ultimately, the IOC can choose to bar Russia from its Olympics, and Bach said in March such a decision would be taken “at the appropriate time at its full discretion.”
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports | Olympic Sports |
The IOC faces having to ban Russian athletes from taking part at the Paris 2024 Olympics even under a neutral flag because qualification events for the Games will start in the next few weeks, it has been warned.Sir Craig Reedie, one of the most influential members of the Olympic movement over the past 30 years, said it is “unlikely” that athletes from Russia and Belarus will be able to participate in Paris after the IOC recommended that international federations ban them from competition completely following the invasion of Ukraine.Of the Olympic sports, only cycling, tennis and judo have still permitted Russians and Belarusians to continue to compete but Reedie also doubts whether athletes in those sports would be allowed to qualify for Paris. | Olympic Sports |
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GENEVA (AP) — After nearly 20 months of waging war in Ukraine, Russia was suspended by the IOC on Thursday for a land grab in sports administration.
The International Olympic Committee’s executive board imposed the suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee for a breach of the Olympic Charter — a book of rules and principles for international sports bodies — by incorporating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sports as neutral athletes, including in some qualifying events for next year’s Paris Olympics.
Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute last week by accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members.
“(This) unilateral decision,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement from Mumbai, India, “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
The IOC didn’t suspend the Russian Olympic body for a similar move in 2016, more than two years after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Russian media reported in December 2016 that the sports councils of Crimea and Sevastopol were included as ROC members. International law still recognizes the region as part of Ukraine.
Still, the decision Thursday to suspend the ROC appears to highlight rising frustration from the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, who can ultimately decide to impose a blanket ban on all Russian athletes from Paris.
READ MORE: Zelenskyy meets with NATO defense ministers meeting seeking more support to fight Russia
“(The IOC) reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time,” the IOC said.
The Russian Olympic Committee criticized the IOC for “another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations.”
However, the IOC under Bach has often been seen as too sympathetic to Russia during a decade-long doping scandal by never excluding all the country’s athletes and teams from any Olympics despite proven allegations of state-backed cheating and tampering with evidence.
The latest decision by the IOC board comes seven months after it publicly supported Russian athletes by advising governing bodies of Olympic sports to find ways of including them in qualifying events for the Paris Games.
That IOC policy to ease a blanket ban was in defiance of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many Ukrainian athletes to maintain the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Instead, each Olympic sport was asked to evaluate if individual athletes had not actively supported the war and were not contracted to the military or state security agents. The centralized approach has led to apparently inconsistent results, such as wrestling approving Olympic gold medalists who appeared on stage at a pro-war rally in Moscow.
Those vetting processes by different sports will continue despite the IOC suspension imposed Thursday, which does not affect Belarus.
“The suspension of the national Olympic committee doesn’t affect in any way the participation of independent athletes,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference after the board meeting.
Adams said the Russian Olympic Committee had been informed of its suspension before the IOC announced it publicly.
Russia remains excluded from international events in team sports, despite a short-lived and failed attempt this month by European soccer body UEFA to put Russian under-17 teams into qualifying groups for their European Championship.
The new ban removes the right of the ROC to get funding from the Switzerland-based IOC, which is worth millions of dollars in each four-year Olympic funding cycle. Russian officials reportedly have been weighing legal action to access the money that was not being paid during the war.
The Russian Olympic Committee could challenge the IOC decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“ROC, as a participant in the international sports movement, reserves the right to protect its own interests, as well as the interests of athletes and organizations of a sovereign country, which we represent in good faith,” the Russian Olympic body said.
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Sep 28 | Olympic Sports |
It would be an understatement to say that Brendan Quick took over an organization in turmoil when he moved from his spot as USA Cycling's chairman of the board to the office of the chief executive in December 2021.
The national governing body had churned through CEOs for more than a decade, each with their own vision and ideas but never staying long enough to implement them. Some wanted USA Cycling to be a vehicle to get more people on bikes, tapping into the recreational market, while others wanted to build up lower level and domestic racing programs.
Quirk wants all of that to happen, of course, but more as a byproduct of a sharpened focus on Team USA's elite athletes, the ones that will be competing over the next 10 days at the world championships in Scotland and the Paris Olympics next summer.
“There was a period where I think the leadership here tried to become the signature cycling organization across America and the truth is that's not our mission,” said Quirk, who has held a USA Cycling license since the 1980s. “We have really tried to focus our strategic plan and make it hyper-focused on our mission to compete at the highest levels.”
Recreational riders are important, Quirk explains, but there are numerous nonprofits and advocacy groups — perhaps with help from USA Cycling — that are better equipped to lead those efforts. Rather, he wants USA Cycling to follow the lead of governing bodies for many other Olympic sports that are designed to identify, nurture and produce top-end talent.
While the American team has done relatively well at the past three Summer Games, given all the changes in leadership, the truth is that Britain, the Netherlands and many other nations have lapped the U.S. in many of the disciplines.
“We've got a pretty passionately held belief at USA Cycling that there are three things that have grown bike racing in America at the grassroots level: Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong and Kate Courtney,” Quirk said, referring to the two Americans who have won the Tour de France and the former mountain bike world champion.
“Those are the things that create broad reach and media coverage. That's what sucks people into the sport, and got me into the sport,” Quirk continued. “It cuts through with these stories of heroes and champions. So I believe that yes, if we win a world title or someone wins Tour stages, that's going to correlate to growth in cycling as the grassroots level.”
Quirk comes from a different background than previous USA Cycling executives.
He co-founded Competitive Cyclist, one of the world's largest online bike retailers, then served as president of the North America section of Rapha, a premier cycling and lifestyle brand. He also was program director for the Runway Group, led by members of the Walmart Inc.-owning Walton family, which has poured millions into cycling infrastructure in Arkansas.
Quirk replaced longtime USA Cycling fixture Bob Stapleton on its board in 2019 and was elected chairman in October 2021, two months before former CEO Rob DeMartini stepped down and Quirk was asked to fill the void.
Like many organizations, USA Cycling dramatically cut staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was no racing and thus no revenue from licenses. That left Quirk with a spartan staff at first, but it also gave him the opportunity to fill those empty offices with staff members who shared his vision for the future.
“We had no revenue and the impact of COVID on racing — it's barely been a year that racing has been back,” Quirk said. “April 2022 was the first time there was a sense of normalcy. We're like, 14 months into normalcy. We've had to rebuild the staff, and you can only build so quickly. But we feel really good. We're fully staffed and people are racing.”
Racing quite well, too.
The U.S. has the reigning Olympic omnium champion in Jennifer Valente. Her teammate, Chloe Dygert, is a threat to win world titles on the track and in the time trial in Scotland. Team USA remains strong in both BMX freestyle and racing. And on the men's side, the road team is coming off a Tour de France in which it made plenty of headlines over the race's three weeks.
Success in Scotland this week is important. So is winning medals at the Paris Games next summer. But the long-range goal, Quirk said, is to put the U.S. in position to compete in every discipline at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It's kind of mission impossible, but you know what? We're turning it around," he said. "2023 will be the first year since 2012 that we will have year-over-year growth in membership and year-over-year growth in racing days. The key metrics where you want to say: ‘What’s the temperature check? Is the business going on the right direction?’ They’re going in the right direction.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
6:23 AM ETAssociated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Russia's path to sending a team to the Paris Olympics next year became clearer Thursday amid fierce objections from Ukraine.The International Olympic Committee indicated Wednesday that it favors officially neutral teams from Russia and its ally Belarus at the 2024 Olympics despite a plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to exclude them entirely.A day later, Russia and Belarus were invited to compete at the Asian Games, a key Olympic qualifier.Russia typically competes as part of Europe but has a tense relationship with many of the countries set to host qualifying events there. Russia and Belarus have been barred from almost all international competitions in Olympic sports following the invasion of Ukraine.Zelenskyy has said he told French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia should have "no place" there. Ukraine is seeking to rally support against the IOC-brokered plan."IOC has been disregarding Russian war crimes, claiming that 'No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport', while Ukrainian athletes continue to be killed by Russia because of their passports. I urge all sports figures to make their stance known," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Thursday.IOC has been disregarding Russian war crimes, claiming that "No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport", while Ukrainian athletes continue to be killed by Russia because of their passports. I urge all sports figures to make their stance known. https://t.co/Uv9ZuHSI9L— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) January 26, 2023 Ukraine boycotted an Olympic qualifier in judo last year when Russians were allowed to compete as neutrals.In Russia, there was praise for the IOC plan from Igor Levitin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who holds influential government and sports posts."I think it is already a success. Olympic society understands that the Olympic Games cannot be staged without Russia," said Levitin, who is the senior vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee, in comments reported by state news agency Tass.Some Russian officials expressed unhappiness at the IOC declaring it would not allow athletes found to be "actively supporting the war in Ukraine." Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said Wednesday he opposed "any restrictions, extra requirements or sanctions."The IOC statement Wednesday referenced the civil war in the former Yugoslavia at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The country was under United Nations sanctions, so Yugoslav athletes were allowed to compete individually only as "Independent Olympic Participants." They didn't take part in team sports such as soccer and basketball.That would be stricter than previous IOC measures against Russia in the years-long fallout from one of the largest doping cases in sports history. Russians competed under the name "Olympic Athlete from Russia" at the 2018 Winter Olympics and as ROC, short for Russian Olympic Committee, in 2021 and 2022, without their country's anthem or flag but with national colors on uniforms.The Asian Games will be in Hangzhou, China, in September and October and function as Olympic qualifiers in several sports, including archery and boxing. Some other sports host their own Asia-specific qualifying competitions."The OCA believes in the unifying power of sport and that all athletes, regardless of their nationality or the passport they hold, should be able to compete in sports competitions," the OCA said in a statement.The longtime director general of Kuwait-based OCA, Husain al-Musallam, is also the president of World Aquatics, which is overseeing the core Olympic sport of swimming in the IOC home city Lausanne."The OCA has offered to give eligible Russian and Belarusian athletes the opportunity to take part in competitions in Asia, including the Asian Games," the organization said.The OCA added it "remains on standby" until the IOC and the individual sports' governing bodies finalize the conditions for Russia and Belarus to compete. | Olympic Sports |
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Changes are coming at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, sparked by frustration with years of flat revenue and what some portray as heavy-handed management in the wake of sex-abuse scandals that upended the movement in America.At their keynote addresses at this week's annual assembly of U.S. athletes and administrators, both CEO Sarah Hirshland and chair Susanne Lyons said the federation's top-line priority for the upcoming year is athlete excellence and expanding revenue. This is a shift after years of placing athlete safety above all else after the scandals exposed what critics said was the USOPC's single-minded focus on money and medals.Lyons' term as chair ends at the close of 2022. A candidate to replace her is Dexter Paine, a current USOPC board member and former chair of U.S. Ski & Snowboard who is closely aligned with the national governing bodies (NGBs) that run the individual sports and have largely felt like they've been undermined in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar scandal.Also running is former LA 2028 CEO Gene Sykes, who played a key role in bringing the Summer Olympics back to Los Angeles. The July 8 vote to pick Lyons' successor will be a significant indicator of what the focus will be at the USOPC in an ever-shifting dynamic between athletes, NGBs and international relations.In an interview with The Associated Press, Lyons said what some see as a paradigm shift is driven by tough economic conditions, along with abysmal TV ratings for the past two Olympics that has raised concern that fans are losing their love for the Olympics. The U.S. is now six years from hosting its first Summer Games since 1996, and officials know the Olympics in Los Angeles have to be parlayed to stoke passion in the U.S. for the entire industry.“For a while, it was kind of considered terrible if you actually said that you wanted to win a medal,” Lyons said. “It was like, ‘Money-medals, terrible.’ But I think everyone understands that to have that engagement, you have to be performing."Olympic sports in the U.S. are run by more than four dozen NGBs that are, in turn, overseen by the USOPC. When the sex-abuse scandal erupted, the drawbacks of the loosely tethered relationships between the organizations were laid bare. The conclusion, driven in part by Congress, was that the USOPC, which provides millions in funding to the NGBs, needed to exercise more oversight over the NGBs and take a firmer role in policing them.Friction came in almost every area.Since 2019, the amount of money given by the USOPC to the NGBs for standard operating procedures has stayed virtually flat — hovering at around $50 million a year. Some of this can be blamed on the pandemic, which delayed the 2020 Olympics by a year and put a major strain on budgeting throughout the Olympic world. Another factor was the shift of USOPC dollars directly into the pockets of athletes. Also, there were “administrative” costs, some of which dealt with ongoing legal action involving Nassar's victims, and some that involved the increased oversight of the NGBs. At the behest of Congress, the USOPC also now funds the U.S. Center for SafeSport to the tune of $20 million a year, a more than 600% increase over when it was launched.Somewhat overlooked is that a lot of money the USOPC gives to NGBs also eventually makes its way to athletes, who train under the umbrella of the organizations for years, then become part of “Team USA” — overseen by the USOPC — when the Olympics roll around.Max Cobb, the CEO of U.S. Biathlon, acknowledged the growing tension between the NGBs and the USOPC. Cobb said 2022 is the right time to realign priorities, with the Paris Games still more than two years off.“I think now is the time for us to dig in and have the really tough conversations and be really honest with each other about what we’re doing,” he said. “And be really transparent about how the funds are being used and what resources are available to us.”Other frustrations included:—Some NGBs felt burdened by new auditing requirements put into place by the USOPC — a response to what was viewed as lax oversight in the aftermath of the Nassar case — that demanded extra work at extra cost for organizations that were already squeezed.—NGB leaders balked at some of the athlete-centered programs the USOPC launched. One example is the Athlete Marketing Platform program (AMP), which gives athletes direct marketing opportunities with sponsors, but sometimes duplicates efforts being made by the NGBs themselves and effectively funnels money away from those NGBs.—The sudden ouster earlier this year of chief of sport performance Rick Adams, a longtime leader at the USOPC, angered virtually the entire NGB community. Adams was the USOPC's main connection to NGBs on the sports side. The U.S. performance at the Tokyo and Beijing Games — first in medals for Summer and a respectable fourth in Winter — were good indicators that sport performance was operating efficiently despite the challenges brought by the pandemic.Almost all of it eventually goes back to money — how to bring more into the Olympic system and how to distribute it, especially during a time of high inflation, where flat revenues actually represent diminishing buying power.Lyons said she was heartened by a survey taken after the Tokyo Games in which more than 90% of U.S. Olympians and Paralympians in Tokyo said the “USOPC prioritized their health, wellness and security while providing appropriate resources and high-quality services throughout their Games experience.” She said the change in outlook signaled at this year's assembly doesn't mean the federation is going to stop concentrating on that.“I've never seen an Olympian or Paralympian who didn't want to win,” she said. “I don't think we're going to see, from our athletes at least, some sort of blowback to say, ‘Oh, you know they’re talking about medals again.' Because they want to win medals.”___More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
MONACO -- Dozens of Ukrainian track and field athletes and officials preparing for their world championships in August can get funding for training camps, World Athletics said on Monday.
World Athletics will invest $190,000 and prioritize replacing equipment for pole vaulters -- the event of Ukrainian great Sergey Bubka -- which has been destroyed in Russian missile attacks.
A college in Bakhmut named for Bubka, the senior vice president of World Athletics, was part of a sports complex including a track stadium and indoor arena that has been destroyed during fierce fighting there in recent months, the national track federation said.
"It was the only center where athletes could conduct training camps at any time of the year. Now there is nothing left in Bakhmut," Ukrainian officials wrote in a letter, World Athletics said.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe pledged ahead of the Aug. 19-27 worlds in Budapest to do "whatever we can to help athletics survive and recover in Ukraine."
"The deliberate destruction of Ukrainian athletics facilities and equipment is also a serious attack on the accessibility of our sport," Coe said in a statement.
World Athletics has excluded athletes and officials from Russia and its military ally Belarus during the war and both countries are expected to miss the upcoming worlds. They also were excluded from the 2022 worlds in Eugene, Oregon.
Track's stance has been the strongest among Olympic sports while the International Olympic Committee pushes governing bodies to find ways to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians as neutrals ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
Ukraine had a team of 22 athletes at the last worlds five months after the war started. Medals were won in high jump -- silver for Yaroslava Mahuchikh in the women's event and bronze for Andriy Protsenko in the men's.
"We want to make sure Ukrainian athletes have the same opportunity to compete and succeed this year," Coe said.
Up to 100 people in the Ukrainian athletics community could need financial support this year, World Athletics said, including travel and accommodation for elite athletes at training camps in the next three months. | Olympic Sports |
KYIV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian government is looking to block its athletes from sports competitions, particularly qualifying events for next year's Paris Olympics, which readmit Russian athletes.
The International Olympic Committee recommended Tuesday that sports federations allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols. Ukraine wanted to continue the full exclusion, which had been in place in most sports since shortly after last year's Russian invasion.
Government minister Oleh Nemchinov said Thursday that a decision had been taken only to enter events with no Russians involved, according to public broadcaster Suspilne.
No ruling was immediately published and it was not clear exactly how it would be implemented. The IOC recommends allowing Russians to compete as individuals but not as national teams. However, several Olympic sports run individual and team events together at a single location, as in gymnastics or fencing. International sports federations are not obliged to implement the IOC's recommendations and most have yet to commit to readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes.
There was no clarification on how Ukraine's approach might affect tennis, where individual Russians and Belarusians already play on the men's and women's tours, and have played against Ukrainians. They remain barred from national team tennis events like the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
Ukraine boycotted an Olympic judo qualifier last year when the sport's governing body allowed Russians, including several from the country's military, to take part as neutral athletes. Ukrainian officials have previously not ruled out boycotting next year's Paris Olympics rather than compete against Russians.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- Russian athletes have "no place" at next year's Paris Olympics while their country's invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from 36 countries Friday.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude athletes from Russia and ally Belarus ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. With qualifying in many sports underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
"While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions," Zelenskyy told the summit in an opening address by video link, according to a transcript issued by his office. "And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood -- even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee.
"The International Olympic Committee needs honesty. Honesty it has unfortunately lost. Honesty that will help stop Russian terror and bring peace closer."
Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's summit meeting, which was held online and chaired by British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, took place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
"There is danger here that the world wishes to move on and back to business as usual," Frazer said. "However, the situation in Ukraine has not changed since the IOC's initial decision last February on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition."
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Lee Satterfield said at the summit that the U.S. government still supports the multinational statements it signed onto over the past year. Those have called on sports organizations that allow Russian athletes to participate to ensure that they compete as neutral athletes and to ban the Russian flag. Both statements were drafted well before the IOC began pushing in January to find a pathway for some Russian athletes into the Paris Games.
Satterfield told the summit the State Department would consult with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee on next steps and seek more clarity from the IOC about its position, according to an agency spokesperson.
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
"The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love," Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, wrote in a letter Thursday to IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic leaders.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that "threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for."
Political leaders of Ukraine's nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on.
"While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Hidalgo traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Mayor Vitali Klitschko and said she would "do everything" to convince the IOC. Russian athletes previously competed at the Olympics without national symbols as punishment for doping cases, but using a similar approach to deal with a war is not appropriate, Hidalgo argued.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules, move at different speeds or challenge the IOC's authority entirely.
The governing body of archery said last week that it was "very unlikely" to allow any neutral athletes to compete in 2023, including at Olympic qualifiers. The IOC's plan for Russians and Belarusians to qualify for the Olympics through competitions in Asia, instead of Europe, was not acceptable either, it added. The governing body of track and field has its own restrictions on the Russian team because of doping, and its president, Olympic great Sebastian Coe, has said his preferred solution would be for Russia to "get out of Ukraine."
It could also be up to the federations to implement the IOC's plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be "actively supporting the war in Ukraine." The IOC hasn't defined what constitutes support, while Russian officials have called it discriminatory and demanded the Olympic body scrap that condition entirely.
Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
"In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war," Guttsait wrote to Bach.
Many national Olympic committees have taken the IOC's line, but some such as Ukraine and Latvia say they would rather boycott than compete against Russian athletes. Five sports bodies in the Nordic countries said Tuesday that they wanted a ban on athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus. | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- As Ukraine pushes for Russian athletes to be barred from next year’s Paris Olympics and threats of a boycott mount, officials from 30 countries were holding a summit Friday to discuss how to respond.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus from the 2024 Olympics entirely. The IOC wants their athletes to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained with blood,” is due to address the online summit by video link. Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's meeting was taking place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“President Zelenskyy told the UK in Parliament this week of the suffering still being felt by many Ukrainians. As he did so the IOC was continuing to ignore the international allies stepping up their efforts for peace and disregard how the Olympics will give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the perfect platform to promote Russia and legitimize his illegal war,” British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who is chairing the meeting, said in a statement Thursday.
“We’re approaching a year since this barbaric invasion began. We must urge the IOC to show that the Olympic values mean something. We must make clear there are consequences to this illegal invasion. We cannot allow Russian athletes to line up alongside Team GB (the British Olympic team) and everyone else on the world stage.”
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
“The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love,” Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, wrote in a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic leaders that was published Friday.
Guttsait argued the IOC was focusing too much on the rights of Russians to compete and not enough on the rights of Ukrainians to feel safe around Russian competitors in places like the Olympic village.
“How and in what way will the rights of Ukrainian athletes be protected? Will they be able to step onto the same sports field and compete with the Russian athletes at a time when their families, friends and colleagues are in mortal danger?” he wrote.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that “threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for.”
Political leaders of Ukraine’s nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules and move at different speeds, or challenge the IOC’s authority entirely.
The governing body of archery said last week that it was “very unlikely” to allow any neutral athletes to compete in 2023, including at Olympic qualifiers. The IOC’s plan for Russians and Belarusians to qualify for the Olympics through competitions in Asia, instead of Europe, was not acceptable either, it added. The governing body of track and field has its own restrictions on the Russian team because of doping and its president, Olympic great Sebastian Coe, has said his preferred solution would be for Russia to “get out of Ukraine.”
Olympic qualifiers are under way in some sports and start soon in many more. That leaves federations to grapple with how to reshape a process that they thought was finalized years ago.
It could also be up to them to implement the IOC’s plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be “actively supporting the war in Ukraine.” The IOC hasn’t defined what constitutes support. Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
“In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war,” Guttsait wrote to Bach.
Many of the national Olympic committees have taken the IOC’s line, but some like Ukraine and Latvia say they would rather boycott than compete against Russian athletes. Five sports bodies in the Nordic countries said Tuesday they wanted a ban on athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
MUMBAI, India -- Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh has been elected as a member of the IOC.
The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday voted in eight new members to make a total of 107 drawn from royal families, sports officials, current and former athletes plus leaders from politics and industry.
Members’ work at annual meetings includes approving recommended candidates as future Olympic Games hosts. They could be asked in Paris next July to change Olympic rules that would let IOC president Thomas Bach seek a third leadership term in 2025 beyond the current 12-year limit.
Yeoh, who has ties to the United Nations representing her home country Malaysia, was elected in a 67-9 vote by her new colleagues. The accolade came in the same year as her Oscar win for best actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Yeoh also is an international campaigner for road safety in partnership with her husband, Jean Todt, the former head of the Ferrari team in Formula One racing. He was president of the motorsports governing body known by its French acronym FIA.
The only unanimous vote was the 76-0 result in favor of Cecilia Tait, a twice-elected congresswoman in Peru and a three-time Olympian in volleyball. Tait helped Peru’s women take silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, Yael Arad, also was elected Tuesday, 71-5. Now president of Israel’s national Olympic body, she took silver in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Other new members include Hungarian government sports executive Balázs Fürjes and officials from Germany, Michael Mronz, and Tunisia, Mehrez Boussayene.
Two recently elected presidents of governing bodies in Olympic sports got membership: Petra Sörling of Sweden from table tennis and Kim Jae-youl of South Korea from the International Skating Union.
The new members swore the Olympic oath in front of their colleagues before the closure of a three-day meeting in Mumbai, India.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- The five Olympic committees in the Nordic region on Tuesday urged the International Olympic Committee to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from “international sports participation” because of the war in Ukraine.
The bodies from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway said they wanted to expressed their “steadfast support once again with the Ukrainian people and the demand for peace.”
“We stand firm in our position," they said in a statement. “Now is not the right time to consider their return.”
Last week, the three Baltic prime ministers called for a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes and said an Olympic boycott was a possibility.
They spoke a few days after the Latvian Olympic Committee threatened to boycott the Paris Games if Russian athletes are allowed and called on other countries to form a coalition to pressure international sports bodies. It was the first national Olympic body other than Ukraine to threaten to boycott rather than compete against Russians.
Other national Olympic sports bodies, including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, back the IOC’s efforts to find a path for Russians to compete.
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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
Asian Games 2023 Opening Ceremony: Date, Time, Venue, Live Streaming Details And More
Led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, India will seek to showcase its ascendency as a sporting power at the Asian Games 2023.
The Asian Games 2023 will officially kick off on Saturday with a grand opening ceremony scheduled to take place.
The 19th edition of the continental showpiece, which will run till October 8 in Hangzhou and five co-host cities of Huzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Jinhua and Wenzhou, was to be held in September 2022 but was postponed by a year after a surge of COVID-19 cases in China.
Forty-five nations and territories in Asia will compete for 481 gold medals from 40 sports and 61 disciplines, including Esports which is making its debut in the Asian Games. Competitions in football, volleyball, cricket, rowing, sailing and modern pentathlon began before the grand opening ceremony.
The Asian Games are expected to be declared opened by Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, India will seek to showcase its ascendency as a sporting power at the Asian Games 2023.
India will hope to surpass the 70 medals (16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze) won in 2018 in Indonesia with largest contingent of 655 athletes competing in 39 sports in Hangzhou.
Hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and Olympic medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain will be the flag-bearers of the Indian contingent during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Hangzhou on September 23.
Here's all you need to know about the Asian Games 2023 opening ceremony:
Asian Games 2023 Opening Ceremony: Date, Time And Venue
The opening ceremony of the Asian Games 2023 will be held on Saturday from 5:30 PM IST onwards at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium.
Also, known as the "big Lotus", the stadium is located in Binjiang district and is the main stadium for Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. Its shape is inspired by ancient silk texture and weaving system, its architectural form vividly reflects the surging waves of Qiantang River and its roof consists of 28 petal-shaped structures and 27 smaller ones.
Asian Games 2023 Opening Ceremony Live Telecast Details
The opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games will be telecast live on the Sony Sports Network in India.
Asian Games 2023 Opening Ceremony Live Streaming
SonyLiv will stream the Asian Games 2023 opening ceremony live on its app and website.
The world's grandest stage is set to be unveiled TODAYð¥â³— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 23, 2023
Get ready for the #AsianGames' opening ceremony to hit your screens from 5:30 PM onwards#SonySportsNetwork #Cheer4India #TeamIndia #IssBaarSauPaar #Hangzhou2022 pic.twitter.com/voMGLkz5Co
Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh on Thursday said it is a 'moment of immense pride' for him to have been picked as the country's joint flag-bearer for the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games.
In the recent past, Dhanraj Pillay (1998, 2002), Jyoti Sunita Kullu (2006), Gagan Narang (2010), Sardar Singh (2014) and Neeraj Chopra (2018) were India's flag-bearers at the in the continental showpiece.
"Being named as the joint flag-bearer alongside Lovlina Borgohain for the Asian Games is a moment of immense pride for me. It is an opportunity to represent my country on an even larger scale, and I am truly humbled by this honour. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our boxing star Lovlina for the same," Harmanpreet said in a Hockey India release.
China are fielding their second-largest contingent in their Asian Games history with 886 athletes, including 437 women, taking part in Hangzhou. It is 91 less than the 977 athletes China fielded at the 2010 Guangzhou Games.
China are not only fielding the most number of athletes in this edition of the Games but they are also set to continue their domination by bagging the top spot in the medal tally, which they have been doing at every edition since 1982 with several Olympic champions participating.
South Korea are sending their largest ever athletes' contingent of 867 with an aim to finish second in the medal tally.
India have not finished in the top-5 in medal tally standings since the 1986 edition in Seoul. The catchline is 'Iss baar, sau paar' (this time crossing 100 medals).
Though 100 medals may not be possible, India is expected to surpass the last edition's count with athletics once again set to contribute the lion's share. Last time, track and field athletes had won 20 medals and this time at least 25 podium finishes are expected.
(With PTI inputs) | Olympic Sports |
LONDON -- Russian athletes have “no place” at next year's Paris Olympics while their country’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from 36 countries Friday.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus from sports ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. With qualifying in many sports already underway, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
“While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and Olympic competitions,” Zelenskyy told the summit in an opening address by video link, according to a transcript issued by his office.
“And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood — even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International Olympic Committee,” Zelenskyy said. “The International Olympic Committee needs honesty. Honesty it has unfortunately lost. Honesty that will help stop Russian terror and bring peace closer.”
Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France this week, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's summit meeting, which was held online and chaired by British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, took place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“There is danger here that the world wishes to move on and back to business as usual,” Frazer said. “However, the situation in Ukraine has not changed since the IOC’s initial decision last February on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition.”
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Lee Satterfield said at the summit that the U.S. government still supports the multinational statements it signed onto over the last year. Those have called on sports organizations that allow Russians to participate to ensure the Russians compete as neutral athletes and to ban the Russian flag. Both statements, however, were drafted well before the IOC began pushing in January to find a pathway for some Russian athletes into the Paris Game.
Satterfield also told the summit the State Department would consult with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee on next steps and seek more clarity from the IOC about its position, according to an agency spokesperson.
In a letter sent to IOC president Thomas Bach on Thursday, Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
“The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love,” wrote Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that “threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for.”
Political leaders of Ukraine’s nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
Hidalgo traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Mayor Vitali Klitschko and said she would “do everything” to convince the IOC. Russian athletes previously competed at the Olympics without national symbols as punishment for doping cases, and using a similar approach to deal with a war is not appropriate, Hidalgo argued.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules and move at different speeds, or challenge the IOC’s authority entirely.
Olympic qualifiers are under way in some sports and start soon in many more. That leaves federations to grapple with how to reshape a process that they thought was finalized years ago.
It could also be up to them to implement the IOC’s plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be “actively supporting the war in Ukraine.” The IOC hasn’t defined what constitutes support, while Russian officials have called it discriminatory and demanded the Olympic body scrap that condition entirely.
Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
“In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war,” Guttsait wrote to Bach.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
In a highly unusual move, the UK’s culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, has written to the Olympic Games’ largest sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Intel, Samsung, and Visa, urging them to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its proposals to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete again in international sports and the Paris 2024 Games, the Guardian reports.
“We know sport and politics in Russia and Belarus are heavily intertwined, and we are determined that the regimes in Russia and Belarus must not be allowed to use sport for their propaganda purposes,” Frazer’s letter states. “As long as our concerns and the substantial lack of clarity and concrete detail on a workable ‘neutrality’ model are not addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed back into competition.”
The IOC continues to explore a pathway to allow such athletes to compete as “neutral” athletes, including qualifying for the Paris Olympics in Asia rather than Europe. However, the UK and 34 other countries maintain that Russia and Belarus should not return until Vladimir Putin stops his illegal war in Ukraine.
“Noting the IOC’s stated position that no final decisions have been made, we have strongly urged the IOC to address the questions identified by all countries and reconsider its proposal accordingly,” Frazer’s letter tells the sponsors. “As an Olympic partner, I would welcome your views on this matter and ask you to join us in pressing the IOC to address the concerns raised in our statement.”
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has also reiterated his call for a ban, saying that Russia’s presence at next year’s Olympics would be a “manifestation of violence.”
“If the Olympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place,” he said.
Ukrainian journalists have called for a media boycott of the Games due to the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes. Additionally, 35 countries are demanding that Russian and Belarusian athletes be banned from the Games.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has also called for a ban on Russian athletes if Russia continues its war against Ukraine. However, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has hinted that excluding Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympics would violate the principles of the IOC, suggesting that athletes should not be penalized for the actions of their governments.
Furthermore, in a show of solidarity with Ukraine, several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Poland, have announced their boycott of the World Boxing Championships. | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- The International Olympic Committee pushed back against the mayor of Paris on Wednesday, insisting there were no plans for "a Russian or Belarusian delegation” at the 2024 Games while also acknowledging some athletes from those countries could be welcomed.
The IOC statement came a day after Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said no Russians or Belarusians should be allowed to compete at next year's Olympics because of their involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not actively supported the war to try to qualify and compete as “neutral athletes” without a national identity such as team uniforms, flags and anthems.
“It is not possible to parade as if nothing had happened, to have a delegation that comes to Paris while the bombs continue to rain down on Ukraine,” Hidalgo said Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with many sports leaders and athletes, have consistently said all potential competitors from Russia or Belarus should be banned from Paris, extending a decision that was applied in most Olympic sports within days of the war starting last February.
Olympic bodies and lawmakers in the Baltic and Nordic regions of Europe have also publicly supported Ukraine in standing against the IOC’s preferred route. They have warned of a possible boycott, and are expected to join an online call of sports ministers Friday hosted by the British government.
Russian athletes have avoided being banned outright from the past four Olympics dating back to 2016 in fallout from a scandal of state-backed doping.
At the past three Olympics, they competed without their national identity but in uniforms that clearly identified them as Russians. The first decision for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games was by the IOC, and judges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided conditions for Russians at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
The IOC has cited advice from a human rights expert that banning athletes on the basis of their passport would be discrimination, and sought to clarify its position Wednesday.
“There are no plans for a Russian or Belarusian delegation or the flags of these countries at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the Olympic body said. “The only option that could be considered are individual, neutral athletes like we have seen last year at the French Open in tennis and recently again at the Australian Open in tennis and in other professional sports.”
Tennis and cycling are among the few sports to let Russian and Belarusian athletes continue to compete without their country’s name, flag or anthem.
Though the IOC guided Olympic sports bodies last February toward excluding Russians and Belarusians from international events, that position eased as qualifying ramps up for the Paris Olympics.
Qualification paths are being sought in Asia — such as at the Asian Games that start in September in Hangzhou, China — to avoid security issues and hostility from some competitors that are likely in Europe.
Final decisions on the possible eligibility of athletes will rest with the governing bodies of individual sports. The umbrella group of Summer Olympic sports, known as ASOIF, will meet on March 3 to discuss the issue.
The French government does not rule out a potential “sanction” against Russia at the Paris Olympics, its spokesperson Olivier Veran said Wednesday in a news conference, answering a question from The Associated Press.
“So far, no official decision has been made with the IOC” regarding the Paris Olympics, Veran said. “But you know that France has been consistently in favor of fully and completely applying any sanction.”
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Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed to this report
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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | Olympic Sports |
TOKYO -- The Asian Games are set to go in China, the first multi-sport international event in the country since pandemic restrictions were lifted there about nine months ago.
This giant sports festival in the eastern city of Hangzhou involves more athletes than the Olympics with 12,417 entered, according to organizers.
About 11,000 participated two years ago in the scandal-filled Tokyo Olympics, and about 10,500 are headed to next year's Paris Games.
Unmatched for size, the Asian Games may even surpass the Olympics for controversy, power politics, and intrigue.
The games begin on Sept. 23 amid an open power struggle between International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a long-time IOC member who is often described as the “kingmaker” who helped Bach win election in Buenos Aires in 2013.
Bach is due to step down in 2025 because of IOC term limits and hardball politics are in play around who succeeds him.
In a rare move, the Switzerland-based IOC openly intervened in early July to invalidate the presidential election of the Olympic Council of Asia, which oversees the Asian Games and Olympic sports on the continent.
The July 8 election was ostensibly won by Kuwait's Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the younger brother of Sheikh Ahmad. The elder sheikh is the former 30-year president of the OCA, an organization that was created by his father.
Sheikh Talal defeated another Kuwaiti, Husain Al-Musallam, the veteran director general of the OCA and Sheikh Ahmad's loyal aide. Since 2021, Al-Musallam has also been the head of swimming's governing body World Aquatics.
A few weeks after the election, the IOC suspended Sheikh Ahmad for three years for influencing the result of the election after he was cautioned not to be the IOC.
He was already self-suspended as an IOC member since 2018 after he was indicted in Switzerland for forgery that led to his conviction two years ago. He has appealed the ruling.
“This is all about raw power and wielding influence through titles, money, and privilege," said Jules Boykoff, a political scientist at Pacific University and the author of “Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics.”
“If the IOC doesn’t figure out a way to allow Bach to extend his tenure beyond the 12 allotted years — and I would not be surprised if the group in fact did that — space will open up for someone new at the reins at the IOC," Boykoff told Associated Press.
Sheikh Ahmad has also revived his political career in Kuwait and is now its defense minister and deputy prime minister. Despite the IOC's moves, he is unlikely to be sidelined.
“As this battle for the (IOC presidency) job heats up, Sheikh Ahmad could wield significant influence,” Boykoff said.
In July, addressing the Kuwaiti legislature, Sheikh Ahmad gave no indication he would back down. And he carries more power now as the representative of a sovereign government.
“I am personally the president of the Olympic Council of Asia,” he told the body. “This is my second hat.”
The IOC has said it will continue to recognize Randhir Singh of India as interim president of the OCA until new elections are held. The IOC has said Bach will attend the opening ceremony in Hangzhou.
Bach and the IOC have distanced themselves from the sheikh since an indictment by Geneva prosecutors was revealed in November 2018. The forgery case was unrelated to sports and involved a factional rivalry in the Kuwaiti royal family and government.
Thousands of athletes care little about the leadership, but billions are in play over who runs Olympic sports in Asia. Many sports body in Asia, as elsewhere, depend heavily on monetary payments from the IOC.
The Asian Games involve China and India, the world’s two most populous countries — and Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous.
Asian sports powers Japan and South Korea are also on hand, as is the self- governing island of Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province.
The biggest event of the games might be a possible India vs. Pakistan gold-medal game in cricket on Oct. 7, which would be one of the most-watched global sports events all year.
Organizers say 45 nations and territories in Asia will participate at 56 competition venues. Twelve venues are newly built, and 44 venues are renovated or temporary buildings.
China's state-run media says the total cost of competition or training venues is 10.19 billion yuan, or $1.4 billion.
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Dunbar reported from Geneva, Switzerland.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports | Olympic Sports |
MUMBAI, India -- Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday despite some “no” votes from her new colleagues.
Eight new IOC members were voted in to make a total of 107 drawn from royal families, sports officials, current and former athletes, and leaders from politics and industry.
After being summoned to the lectern by Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, the longest serving IOC member at 39 years, Yeoh read the 104-word oath while holding a corner of the Olympic flag — white with five colored rings.
“I promise to fight against all forms of discrimination and dedicate myself in all circumstances to promote the interests of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Movement,” Yeoh said to complete the oath.
Like the other new recruits, Yeoh was presented with a golden medallion by IOC president Thomas Bach.
Member duties at annual IOC meetings include approving recommended candidates as future Olympic hosts. In Paris next year, they could also be asked to change Olympic rules to allow Bach to seek a third term as president in 2025 beyond the current 12-year limit.
Yeoh, who has ties to the United Nations representing her home country Malaysia, was elected in a 67-9 vote by secret ballot. Her membership comes in the same year as her Oscar win for best actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
She also is an international campaigner for road safety in partnership with her husband, Jean Todt, the former head of the Ferrari team in Formula One racing. He also previously served as president of FIA, the governing body of motorsports.
The only unanimous vote Tuesday was the 76-0 result for Cecilia Tait, a three-time Olympian in volleyball and a former congresswoman from Peru. Tait helped Peru win a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, Yael Arad, also was elected Tuesday, 71-5. Now president of the Israeli Olympic committee, she won silver in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Other new members include Hungarian government sports executive Balázs Fürjes, German sports official Michael Mronz and Tunisian lawyer Mehrez Boussayene.
Two recently elected presidents of governing bodies in Olympic sports also got membership: Petra Sörling of Sweden from table tennis and Kim Jae-youl of South Korea from the International Skating Union.
IOC members are nominally volunteers but can receive $7,000 each year for administrative costs. They are entitled to receive $450 each day they are at meetings, plus on travel days.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Olympic Sports |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vehemently opposed Russian athletes competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics under a neutral flag, just days after the International Olympic Committee said it was open to exploring options that would allow athletes from Russia or Belarus to participate in some international sporting events. In a phone call with IOC president Thomas Bach on Wednesday, Zelenskyy expressed his disappointment with the organization following last week’s IOC Summit where Bach welcomed a "creative" plan to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to join competitions in Asia after more than nine months of isolation. In this handout image issued by Ukrainian Presidency, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Nov. 19, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidency via Getty Images)"Since February, 184 Ukrainian athletes have died as a result of Russia's actions. One cannot try to be neutral when the foundations of peaceful life are being destroyed and universal human values are being ignored," Zelenskyy said, according to a press release. RUSSIA CAN RETURN TO OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS, INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS BY COMPETING AS PART OF ASIAIn a video address released on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said allowing Russian athletes to compete would be a mistake. "We can only say one thing: a white or any neutral flag is impossible for Russian athletes, as all their flags are stained in blood," he said, via Reuters. In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Saturday, June 18, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, awards a serviceman as he visits the war-hit Mykolaiv region. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)The IOC recommended on Feb. 28 — four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began — that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from competition, citing concerns over safety and the integrity of competitions. Most Olympic sports followed its lead and imposed bans.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMBut during Friday’s summit, the IOC discussed potentially allowing those athletes to compete in Asian, not European, continental events as part of the soon-to-start Olympic qualifying phase. "In the course of the debate, the Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) stated that, on the Asian continent, the reasons for the protective measures no longer exist. The OCA offered to facilitate the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in competitions in Asia under its authority, while respecting the sanctions in place," a statement from the IOC read, in part. In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Saturday, June 18, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends meeting with military officials as he visits the war-hit Mykolaiv region. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said Monday that it supported the IOC decision. "There’s a fair amount of desire over time for that to be able to happen because our mission is to bring the world together in peace through sport," USOPC chair Susanne Lyons said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Olympic Sports |
Terry McDermott, who won the only gold medal for the United States at the 1964 Winter Olympics, has died. He was 82.
U.S. Speedskating said in a statement posted on social media Monday that McDermott died early Saturday surrounded by his family. It did not immediately specify where the Michigan native died or give a cause.
McDermott was an apprentice barber and unheralded figure on the speedskating scene when he stunningly won the 500-meter event at the Innsbruck Games, upsetting two-time reigning Olympic champion Yevgeny Grishin of the Soviet Union by a half-second.
“The Cold War was going on and it carried over into the Olympics. The Russians came along in ’56 and dominated every sport. It was awful hard to beat them in anything," McDermott said in a 2010 interview with MLive Media Group. “So, going against them, you tried a little harder.”
McDermott's gold was the only victory by any U.S. athletes at the Innsbruck Games. He proved it wasn't a fluke by taking silver in the 500 four years later at Grenoble.
Known as “The Essexville Rocket,” a nod to his Michigan hometown, McDermott was rewarded for his Olympic triumph with a 1964 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Unfortunately, he was largely overshadowed by the Beatles making their American television debut that same night.
U.S. Speedskating described McDermott as “one of our all-time greats."
“Terry had a massive impact on our sport,” the statement said. “Our thoughts are with those that Terry inspired over his many decades in our sport.”
Among those he inspired was Ryan Shimabukuro, a one-time skater who now serves as head coach of the U.S. long track national team.
“I always had great admiration for Terry,” Shimabukuro told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “His legacy both on and off the ice will continue for U.S. speedskating and our sport.”
He noted that McDermott is one of the greats pictured on a large banner in the training room at the Utah Olympic Oval. Shimabukuro also remembers McDermott serving on the interview committee when he landed a coaching job on the national staff in 2002.
“Terry's contributions on the ice as well as off the ice just goes to show the character he had," Shimabukuro said. “He wanted to give back after his skating career was over, and he did that for decades.”
Mike Plant, a former Olympic speedskater who now serves as a top official with baseball's Atlanta Braves, also remembered McDermott's tireless devotion to a sport that garners little attention in the U.S. except during the Olympics but has produced a total of 91 medals — more than any winter sport except skiing.
“We all knew who he was,” Plant told the AP. “We knew his success on the ice, but we also knew he was just one of those guys, and it was a small group of them, who constantly gave back weekend after weekend. They were always there.”
McDermott was eager for speedskating to carry on its legacy as one of America's greatest Winter Olympic sports, even though his efforts came with no financial reward.
“A guy of incredible character,” Plant said. “He always helped. He was always concerned with you getting better on and off the ice.”
At Innsbruck, Grishin posted a time of 40.6 seconds in the second pairing of the 500. While two skaters would match his time, no one beat it until McDermott went off in the 17th pair.
McDermott crossed the line in 40.1 to shatter Grishin's Olympic record and deny the Soviet great from adding to the four gold medals he had won at the two previous Winter Games.
In 1968, McDermott turned in another stellar performance at Grenoble, even though he had largely been away from the sport for two years.
In an era when speedskating was held on outdoor ovals, a poor draw left the American skating late in the session with the condition of the ice deteriorating rapidly. Still, he managed the second-best time of 40.5, sharing the silver with Norway's Magne Thomassen behind the winner, Erhard Keller of West Germany.
McDermott, who carried the American flag at the opening ceremony in 1968, always considered that silver medal to be on par with his gold.
“That was a big challenge and I look at that as a big accomplishment,” McDermott said. “After not skating for a couple years it was very different, so it was very rewarding to come that close.”
McDermott was a three-time Olympian, finishing in a tie for seventh in the 500 at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games.
But he was remembered by later generations for his other contributions. He took the oath for judges at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, traveled to a dozen Winter Olympics, served in various roles with U.S. Speedskating, and worked as a television and radio analyst.
He got a first-hand look at the American greats who came after him, including Eric Heiden, Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair.
“It’s part of my life," he told MLive. "I have so much appreciation for speedskating. It’s given me a lot of benefits, a lot of rewards.”
At last year's Beijing Olympics, the U.S. speedskating team won three medals, including Erin Jackson's gold in the women's 500.
“As they say, success breeds success,” Shimabukuro said. "I can’t speak enough of Terry’s impact and influence in the sport for me as a skater and me as a staff member at U.S. Speedskating.”
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COURCHEVEL, France -- Insisting sports had to respect the human rights of all athletes, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Sunday denied that the organization was on the wrong side of history by helping Russians and Belarusians qualify for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
Bach and the IOC have faced a widespread backlash from Ukraine and its allies, including comments directed at him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, since setting out a path last month for some athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competition despite the war waged by their countries.
Asked Sunday at the Alpine skiing world championships if the IOC could be on the wrong side of history, Bach dismissed the suggestion.
"No, history will show who is doing more for peace. The ones who try to keep lines open, to communicate, or the ones who want to isolate or divide," the IOC leader said.
"We have shown this in the past with great success in the Olympic movement," Bach said, pointing to the examples of North and South Korea, Israel and Palestine, and Kosovo. "Our role is bringing people together."
Bach spoke with international media ahead of the men's downhill, the marquee race in a sport from which Russians and Belarusians were excluded since the war started last February. Ivan Kovbasnyuk was the only Ukrainian skier taking part.
Kovbasnyuk told The Associated Press earlier at the championships no Russians should be allowed at Paris, echoing comments by Ukrainian Olympic medalists including boxer Wladimir Klitschko, high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh and tennis player Elina Svitolina.
"Russia is killing my people. Not good situation for Olympic Committee," Kovbasnyuk said in Courchevel.
Bach spoke Sunday of his support for "every Ukrainian athlete. We can from a human point of view understand their reactions, we share their suffering."
"Every Ukrainian athlete can be rest assured that we are standing in full solidarity with them and that all their comments are taken very, very seriously into consideration," he said.
The IOC has cited advice from United Nations human rights experts that banning athletes on the basis of their passport would be discrimination.
Germany and Japan were not invited to the 1948 London Olympics after they were the aggressors in World War II and South Africa was excluded from 1964-88 because of its racist Apartheid laws.
"The IOC being committed to human rights, like the international sports federations, has of course to address these serious concerns," Bach said Sunday, adding Olympic sports had a "unifying mission of bringing people together" amid other wars across the world.
Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not actively supported the war to try to qualify and compete as "neutral athletes" without a national identity such as team uniforms, flags and anthems. Governing bodies of each Olympic sport must decide if and how athletes could compete.
But Zelenskyy told a summit of sports officials from 36 countries Friday that Russian athletes have "no place" in Paris while the invasion of Ukraine continues.
"Unfortunately, what they have not addressed, at least so far as we can see, are these human rights concerns," Bach said Sunday. "There, we don't have an answer but we have to take it seriously."
Political leaders of Ukraine's nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Any country that boycotts Paris will likely have their national Olympic body suspended by the IOC.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who visited Kyiv last week, has also said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
Asked Sunday about Zelenskyy's recent invitation to Bach in a nightly video address to visit Bakhmut at the front line of fighting, the IOC president said: "I have seen a tweet but there have been no ongoing discussions." | Olympic Sports |
ZURICH -- Russia and Belarus teams were excluded by the International Ice Hockey Federation on Wednesday from all its world championships next season, including the women's event in the United States.
The IIHF cited security concerns for players, competition staff and fans -- because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- to extend the exclusion that will stretch beyond two years when the 2023-24 season is over.
"It is too soon," IIHF president Luc Tardif said about letting Russia return. "Too many risks."
The women's worlds are set to be played in the United States in March or April next year, and the men's event in the Czech Republic is scheduled for May 2023.
Ice hockey is a favorite sport played by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The IIHF has followed guidance given by the International Olympic Committee within days of Russia starting the war in February 2022 to remove Russian teams from international competitions and to find new hosts for events the country was to stage.
However, the IOC is now pushing Olympic sports' governing bodies to find ways to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Games.
The IOC executive board is due to discuss the Russian issue at a meeting Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Tardif, speaking after a decision by the ruling council he chairs, said the IIHF must decide in the next year if Russia and Belarus can take part in the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games. | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- The key factor in weighing the IOC’s ultimate decision on letting Russians participate at the 2024 Paris Games is how well athletes behave in international competitions, the Olympic body’s president Thomas Bach said Tuesday.
“It’s too soon to draw final conclusions,” Bach said, adding “we have the responsibility not to punish athletes for the acts of their government.”
The International Olympic Committee has pushed sports governing bodies this year to approve some athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus competing as neutrals for international competitions including Paris qualifying events.
Bach has previously said the IOC can take its own final decision “at the appropriate time, at its full discretion” which could include barring Russians and Belarusians as their countries’ war on Ukraine continues.
On Tuesday, Bach clarified the IOC’s interest is mainly in ensuring athletes behave well in competitions, not how the war progresses.
“Right now it is more to monitor the situation on the field of play, whether the rules are respected, the conditions are respected, by everybody,” Bach told reporters in an online briefing ahead of next week’s one-year countdown to the Paris opening ceremony.
Soccer and track and field have taken the toughest positions against Russia, excluding teams and athletes within days of the invasion of Ukraine starting in February 2022. Russia was removed from trying to qualify for the men's and women's World Cup in soccer.
The IOC shared that view when war started days after the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Games, citing Russia’s breach of the traditional Olympic Truce pledge agreed at the United Nations and security concerns for athletes.
Tennis and cycling continued to let Russians and Belarusians compete as neutrals – but not in team events -- without their national identity, and the IOC and Bach have pointed to their success.
Ukrainian tennis players, including Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina, have refused to shake hands with opponents from Russia and Belarus leading to crowds at Roland Garros and Wimbledon booing what they saw — not seemingly always accurately -- as a breach of protocol.
“We can see that this is working pretty well,” Bach said Tuesday. “They are respectful and they make it clear they went to compete against the best athletes of the world.”
Governing bodies of individual Olympic sports have the final say which athletes compete and their umbrella group, known as ASOIF, said in May that finding a common position has been difficult in trying to define neutrality and what exactly is a team sport.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport was involved in helping to define neutrality, which the IOC has advised should include no active support for the war and no contacts since February 2022 with military or state security agencies.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and past Olympic champions have urged the IOC to exclude Russia entirely. Zelenskyy invited Bach in January to visit the destroyed city Bakhmut "to see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist.”
Another Olympic Truce text – the ancient tradition in Greece that paused wars and ensured safe passage to the games – is being prepared ahead of Paris. It should apply for several days ahead of the July 26-Aug. 11 Summer Games and for a few days beyond the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympic Games.
Bach said the host French government “is initiating this Truce resolution. We are waiting for this to happen and then are looking forward to having a result on which again all member states of the United Nations can agree.”
Russia has also faced investigations and calls to be excluded from each of the past four Olympics since 2016 because of scandals tied to a state-backed doping program that tainted the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Russia eventually sent teams to each Olympics though under a neutral identity starting in 2018.
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LONDON -- As Ukraine pushes for Russian athletes to be barred from next year’s Paris Olympics and threats of a boycott mount, officials from 30 countries were holding a summit Friday to discuss how to respond.
The International Olympic Committee argues it would be discriminatory to exclude Russia and ally Belarus entirely. With qualifying in many sports already under way, the IOC wants athletes from those countries to compete in a neutral capacity without national symbols.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has previously said any neutral flag for Russia would be “stained with blood,” is due to address the online summit by video link. Zelenskyy made surprise visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, pushing for fighter jets to battle Russian invaders in a dramatic speech to the British Parliament.
Friday's meeting was taking place on a day of intense missile and drone strikes by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“President Zelenskyy told the UK in Parliament this week of the suffering still being felt by many Ukrainians. As he did so the IOC was continuing to ignore the international allies stepping up their efforts for peace and disregard how the Olympics will give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the perfect platform to promote Russia and legitimize his illegal war,” British Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, who is chairing the meeting, said in a statement Thursday.
“We’re approaching a year since this barbaric invasion began. We must urge the IOC to show that the Olympic values mean something. We must make clear there are consequences to this illegal invasion. We cannot allow Russian athletes to line up alongside Team GB (the British Olympic team) and everyone else on the world stage.”
Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait said allowing Russians to compete would further traumatize athletes affected by the war.
“The participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions will make it impossible for Ukrainian athletes to take part in them, because each of the Ukrainians suffered from Russian aggression in one way or another: They lost their relatives and friends, lost their homes, received psychological trauma, lost the opportunity to do what they love,” Guttsait, who also leads the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, wrote in a letter to IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic leaders that was published Thursday.
Guttsait argued the IOC was focusing too much on the rights of Russians to compete and not enough on the rights of Ukrainians to feel safe around Russian competitors in places like the Olympic village.
“How and in what way will the rights of Ukrainian athletes be protected? Will they be able to step onto the same sports field and compete with the Russian athletes at a time when their families, friends and colleagues are in mortal danger?” he wrote.
Ukraine has previously made public a letter from Bach to Guttsait saying that “threatening a boycott ... goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for.”
Political leaders of Ukraine’s nearby allies in Poland and the Baltic states have said there could be Olympic boycotts if the IOC forges ahead with its plan. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said Russian and Belarusian athletes should be barred from the Olympics in her city if the war is still going on by then.
Hidalgo traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Mayor Vitali Klitschko and said she would “do everything” to convince the IOC. Russian athletes previously competed at the Olympics without national symbols as punishment for doping cases, and using a similar approach to deal with a war is not appropriate, Hidalgo argued.
The IOC, which last year backed excluding Russians and Belarusians from sporting events on safety grounds, also faces challenges from within its own movement. It has given the federations running individual Olympic sports the final say on the details of readmitting Russian and Belarusian athletes. The sports could impose different rules and move at different speeds, or challenge the IOC’s authority entirely.
The governing body of archery said last week that it was “very unlikely” to allow any neutral athletes to compete in 2023, including at Olympic qualifiers. The IOC’s plan for Russians and Belarusians to qualify for the Olympics through competitions in Asia, instead of Europe, was not acceptable either, it added. The governing body of track and field has its own restrictions on the Russian team because of doping and its president, Olympic great Sebastian Coe, has said his preferred solution would be for Russia to “get out of Ukraine.”
Olympic qualifiers are under way in some sports and start soon in many more. That leaves federations to grapple with how to reshape a process that they thought was finalized years ago.
It could also be up to them to implement the IOC’s plan to leave out Russian and Belarusian athletes deemed to be “actively supporting the war in Ukraine.” The IOC hasn’t defined what constitutes support, while Russian officials have called it discriminatory and demanded the Olympic body scrap that condition entirely.
Ukraine is particularly concerned that Russian athletes from military sports clubs or who hold military ranks could compete.
“In Russia, sport is an element of politics, powerful propaganda, in this case the promotion of war,” Guttsait wrote to Bach.
Many of the national Olympic committees have taken the IOC’s line, but some like Ukraine and Latvia say they would rather boycott than compete against Russian athletes. Five sports bodies in the Nordic countries said Tuesday they wanted a ban on athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus.
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More AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! With two years to go until the Paris Olympics open, Russia is making plans for its athletes to live and compete in the French capital even though many remain barred from upcoming qualification events because of the war in Ukraine.Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov wrote on the Telegram messaging app Tuesday that the country was working to get its athletes access to qualification events and already making plans for the Olympic village in 2024.Most Olympic sports have suspended athletes from Russia and Belarus since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, following a recommendation from the International Olympic Committee. However, the IOC has not suspended the Russian Olympic Committee, the body which enters Russian teams for the Games.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Aliya Mustafina of Russia celebrate winning the gold medal after the Women's Uneven Bars Final on Day 9 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)"In exactly two years, the Olympic Games start in Paris. Despite all of the circumstances, the Russian Olympic Committee is a full-fledged participant in the Olympic movement," Pozdnyakov wrote. "We are continuing our systematic preparations for the Games and are also carrying out work to ensure qualifying opportunities and equal presence of our athletes in the Olympic village and at the venues, their participation in events during the Games."Qualifying for some Olympic sports has already begun, but others won't start until next year. If sports federations lift bans on Russian athletes competing in international events such as Olympic qualifiers, that could lead to boycotts by Ukraine.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Russia's Shirvani Muradov celebrates with his national flag afte rwinning the gold medal at the men's freestyle 96kg final wrestling match against Kazakhstan's Taimuraz Tigiyev on August 21, 2008 at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Photo by PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images))The International Judo Federation has allowed Russia's team to keep competing as neutral athletes without their flag or anthem. In response, Ukraine refused to participate when Olympic judo qualifying began last month, in particular because it said that 11 of 24 athletes on the Russian team at the event were members of the military. | Olympic Sports |
GENEVA -- The Afghanistan team’s status for the 2024 Paris Olympics was put in question Wednesday by the IOC over growing frustration with the Taliban blocking access to sport for women and girls.
The International Olympic Committee said it “continues to be extremely concerned” about the sports situation in Afghanistan despite its repeated calls for action.
Noting its “right to take any further measures,” the IOC cautioned that “specific details for the participation of the Afghan (national Olympic committee) delegation and team” for the Paris Games have not yet been decided.
The IOC could suspend Afghanistan’s Olympic body for government interference in the independent management of sport, while supporting the country’s athletes to compete in Paris as an independent team under the Olympic flag and anthem. That was how Kuwaitis competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The issue was discussed Wednesday at an IOC executive board meeting which also took updates on problems with Olympic officials in India, Indonesia, Iran and Guatemala.
A call between Olympic officials and Afghanistan’s recently appointed director of physical education and sports had led to some written guarantees, IOC director for NOC relations James McLeod said in an online briefing.
Still, the IOC said allowing some access to sports for girls at primary schools was “a first step but reiterated that this remains insufficient.”
The Afghanistan issue is next scheduled to be discussed in October at an IOC board meeting held in Mumbai, India, soon after the Asian Games.
Afghanistan sent five athletes, including one woman, to the Tokyo Olympics, which ended in August 2021 one week before the Taliban retook control of the country.
INDONESIA
The IOC has cautioned Olympic sports bodies about letting Indonesia host their events, McLeod confirmed.
Indonesia was stripped by FIFA in March of hosting the men’s soccer Under-20 World Cup just seven weeks before it started because the country did not want Israel to play.
Israel had qualified for the tournament nine months earlier but does not have formal diplomatic relations with Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
McLeod said the IOC advised sports bodies “to be very careful in their allocation of events” to nations which restricted access to athletes.
Indonesia is due to host the World Beach Games in Bali in August for the global umbrella group of national Olympic bodies, known as ANOC. McLeod said the IOC told ANOC to “look at this situation very closely.”
ISINBAYEVA
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started 16 months ago, the IOC has faced questions about letting Russian members take part in Olympic business.
Yelena Isinbayeva, the two-time Olympic pole vault champion and long-time Russian army officer, has now been cleared by the IOC ethics commission to continue using the IOC membership she has had since 2016.
The IOC had said in March her membership status was to be evaluated after Olympic sports bodies were advised that athletes who supported the war in Ukraine or were contracted to the military should not get neutral status to compete internationally.
Without saying Isinbayeva’s name on Wednesday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the “past contractual situation” of Russians prior to the war starting on Feb. 24 last year should not be taken into consideration.
“All the necessary work has been carried out to the satisfaction of the ethics commission,” Adams said, without clarifying if Isinbayeva has renounced her army rank.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | Olympic Sports |
Russia could return to some international sports events and Olympic qualifiers by competing as part of Asia, rather than Europe.International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach welcomed a "creative" plan Friday to allow athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus to join competitions in Asia after more than nine months of isolation from most Olympic sports following the invasion of Ukraine.The statement did not directly address whether Russia and Belarus can send teams to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, but a move from Europe to Asia offers a potential way for Russian athletes to compete in continental events which serve as qualifiers for the Games. Qualifying in some sports is already underway.The IOC recommended on Feb. 28 — four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began — that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from competition, citing concerns over safety and the integrity of competitions. Most Olympic sports followed its lead and imposed bans.The Olympic Summit, a conference hosted by the International Olympic Committee and chaired by President Thomas Bach, agreed Friday that the IOC will "lead the further exploration" of an initiative from the Olympic Council of Asia to allow Russia and Belarus to compete there, according to a statement. A series of consultations are planned with sports federations, athletes and national sports bodies.RUSSIA PLANNING FOR 2024 OLYMPICS DESPITE SPORTS BANBach "thanked the OCA for its creative initiative", the statement on the IOC website said. Russia has territory across Europe and Asia but is traditionally considered part of Europe for the purposes of sports events."In the course of the debate, the Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) stated that, on the Asian continent, the reasons for the protective measures no longer exist," the IOC statement said."The OCA offered to facilitate the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in competitions in Asia under its authority, while respecting the sanctions in place." International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach at the Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Dec. 5, 2022. Bach came up with a plan to allow Russian athletes to compete in international competitions and Olympic qualifiers. (Denis Balibouse/Keystone via AP, Pool)The IOC draws a distinction between what it calls "sanctions" such as preventing Russia from hosting sports events and displaying national symbols in competitions, and the "protective measures" of excluding Russian athletes.WHAT IS ROC? RUSSIA RESTRICTED AT WINTER OLYMPICS JUST LIKE TOKYOBach said Wednesday his organization preferred not to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes but had to because, when it did so in February, national governments were seeking to impose their own restrictions.Ukraine has objected to the decision to invite Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov to the conference. No representatives of Ukraine were on an attendance list published by the IOC for the invite-only event. Besides Russia, only the United States and China had their national Olympic bodies represented.Sports federations aren’t obliged to follow IOC recommendations and some may keep restrictions on Russia and Belarus. World Athletics President Seb Coe said last week that Russia must "get out of Ukraine" before it is readmitted to track and field. Coe was on the invite list for the Olympic Summit but was listed Friday as having been "excused."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe IOC has allowed Russian athletes at the Olympics before without the country’s flag or anthem. A decade of doping disputes led to the Russian team being known as Olympic Athletes from Russia or the Russian Olympic Committee for three consecutive Winter and Summer Olympic Games.If Russian athletes do return to global, as opposed to continental competitions, Ukrainian athletes could boycott events in protest. When the International Judo Federation allowed Russia and Belarus to compete under a neutral flag, Ukraine refused to compete and alleged many on the Russian team were also serving as members of the military. The IJF excluded Russia and Belarus in September until January 2023. | Olympic Sports |
Ukrainian president invited the IOC chief to visit Bakhmut in spat over ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to visit the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine’s soldiers are engaged in vicious battle with Russian forces.
Zelenskyy extended the provocative invitation on Friday after the Olympic committee said a “pathway” should be explored to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the 2024 Paris Games.
Russia and its ally Belarus have been excluded from competing in most Olympic sports since the invasion of Ukraine.
“I invite Mr. Bach to Bakhmut. So that he could see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist,” Zelenskyy said in a speech shared on social media.
“It is obvious that any neutral banner of Russian athletes is stained with blood,” he said.
Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk, is currently the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine. We know how often tyrannies try to use sports for their ideological interests. It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood. I invite Mr. Bach to Bakhmut. So that he could see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist. pic.twitter.com/icSdvgpD87
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 27, 2023 Bach said on Friday that Russian and Belarusian athletes could hope to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but only if they compete under a neutral flag.
The mission is to bring together athletes from all over the world, “especially when their countries are in conflict,” Bach said during a press briefing in the German town of Oberhof.
“The principle that has been laid down is: No Russian or Belarusian athletes,” Bach explained, but “individual, neutral athletes from these countries without any identification with their nationality” could “possibly” compete next year.
However, he stressed that the IOC is just “at the beginning of very detailed consultations” on the matter.
Russian forces have been trying to take control of Bakhmut for months in what Kyiv has described as some of the bloodiest battles since the start of Russia’s offensive on February 24 last year.
Zelenskyy said “it is impossible not to be disappointed” by the stance of the IOC chief.
“I spoke with him more than once and never heard how he was going to protect sports from war propaganda if he returned Russian athletes to international competitions,” Zelenskyy said.
“We will do everything for the world to protect sport from the political and any other influence of a terrorist state, which is simply inevitable if Russian athletes compete.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the IOC said that its executive board met to consider the issue, and “the vast majority of the participants” had expressed that “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport” and that “governments must not decide which athletes can participate in which competition and which athletes cannot”. Statement on solidarity with Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the status of athletes from these countries👇 https://t.co/OGk1HqoN1N
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) January 25, 2023 Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Gutzeit has informed the IOC that his country is planning to boycott the 2024 Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.
“There can’t be agreements with representatives of terrorist countries,” Gutzeit said.
“I hope that all federations, athletes and the whole world have been paying close attention and that we don’t have to resort to this extreme means,” Gutzeit warned, referring to an Olympic boycott by Ukraine.
Bach said on Friday that excluding athletes solely on the basis of their passport does not meet human rights requirements. If exceptions were made and athletes holding a Russian or Belarusian passport were excluded from the Olympic Games, this would create “an enormously dangerous precedent for world sport,” Bach argued, adding that other countries were also affected by wars.
“What do you say to an athlete from Yemen, from Iraq, from Libya, from Armenia, from Azerbaijan, from Ethiopia?”
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Thursday offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in this year’s Asian Games. | Olympic Sports |
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- When she stamped her name on the long, illustrious list of American sprint champions earlier this summer, Sha'Carri Richardson also set the stakes for the year ahead of her and the rest of the fast pack of 100-meter runners she's going against.
“I'm not back. I'm better,” she declared.
Whether that is good enough to win gold medals starting this week at the world championships, then again less than 12 months from now at the Paris Olympics, comes down to whether she can finish in front of defending and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the Jamaican's teammate, Shericka Jackson.
Jackson has the world's best time this year (10.65 seconds), but has lost to Richardson in their only two head-to-head matchups in 2023. Fraser-Pryce is trying to match pole vaulter Sergey Bubka’s record for world titles in one individual event. Also in the mix is Marie-Josée Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who joins Richardson and Jackson as the three women to crack 10.8 this year.
Two years after being denied a spot in the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana, Richardson will line up at her first major competition when the 100-meter heats start Sunday. The meet itself begins Saturday with the early round of the men's 100, where Fred Kerley defends his title and a strong roster of American runners try to repeat last year's podium sweep.
In many ways, this year's meet is a preview of what to expect when many of the same athletes take to the track at the Stade de France in Paris. Missing, however, will be one of the sport's brightest stars. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who skipped the 400-meter hurdles this season to run in the 400 flat, withdrew from the worlds because of a nagging knee injury. Her target is Paris, though it's still a mystery as to which events she'll run.
This year, a familiar cast threatens the record books: Ryan Crouser in shot put, Mondo Duplantis in pole vault and Faith Kipyegon in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters have already set world records in 2023. Also, Poland's Pawel Fajdek has won five straight titles in the hammer throw and could join Bubka (and potentially Fraser-Pryce) as six-time champions in their event.
The women's 100 record — a 35-year-old mark of 10.49 owned by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner — has been thought to be in jeopardy ever since Jamacia's Elaine Thompson ran 10.54 in 2021, about two weeks after winning her second Olympic title.
Griffith-Joyner's husband, coaching great Al Joyner, said he's noticed sprinters studying Flo-Jo's old videos, looking for clues.
“It may click where they execute right and you’re going to see somebody go 10.48 or 10.3,” Joyner said. “It’s going to click for somebody, to the point of saying, ‘Oh, wow’ — because of the level of all the sprinters is out that are running so fast.”
Just as the 100 — and the 200, which takes place next week — will not only be about Richardson, the 23-year-old Richardson is not only about running.
She is a fashion icon, a voice for the growing awareness about mental-health issues in sports and has tried to assert herself as a leader for track athletes, many of whom have long felt underpaid and under-appreciated. Mostly, though, she is a lightning rod. Her story serves as a litmus test for fans of a sport that has struggled to retain global relevance since Usain Bolt exited six years ago.
When Richardson, with her orange hair flowing behind her, streaked across the finish line first at Olympic trials in 2021, the sport appeared on the cusp of welcoming a new, colorful star. Her positive test for marijuana quashed those hopes, then sparked an intense debate about whether she was being unfairly singled out for taking a substance that doesn't improve performance.
Ultimately, the administrators who write the anti-doping rulebook kept marijuana on the banned list, saying its use cut against the spirit of sport. It's a stance that places Olympic sports in a different light than American pro leagues, which generally have much looser regulations on marijuana use.
Richardson, who was vocal about the depression she felt after the loss of her mother in 2021, took more than 12 months to recover her form on the track after missing the Olympics. When she reemerged earlier this year, she could be found on social media, trying to engage U.S. athletes to band together to fight for improved working conditions.
Let's "sit down and actually come up with a strategy as athletes to create a voice for ourselves,” Richardson implored her fellow athletes in a post from earlier this summer.
It goes without saying that her platform is bigger if she lands on podiums, and that is happening more frequently these days. Much was made of Jackson running her world-leading 10.65 at the Jamaican championships only a day after Richardson had, herself, set the standard for 2023 with a 10.71 at her own country's nationals.
That, plus Richardson's status as a rookie on the world's biggest stage, could play into why she is listed as only the fourth favorite to win the 100, at 9-2, behind Jackson, Ta Lou and Fraser-Pryce, who dealt with a knee injury this spring but ran 10.82 last month.
And yet, so many eyes will be on the American. When she beat Jackson to the line by .02 seconds at a Diamond League race in Poland last month, Richardson sounded ready for what is to come — over the next week, and potentially the next year.
“I just want to keep lining up, keep perfecting my craft and keep going,” she said.
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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports | Olympic Sports |
DevOps has changed the game for how developers build, deploy, update and monitor applications across their network. Now, an eponymous startup called DataOps.live — which has built a DataOps platform based on the learnings of DevOps, but targeted at the world of data science — is announcing a round of funding on the heels of big demand for its services.
The London startup has picked up $17.5 million from new backer Notion Capital, as well as previous investors Anthos Capital, and Snowflake, the data cloud computing giant.
Snowflake is very much a strategic investor here: DataOps.live was built to work specifically with data housed with Snowflake. The plan is to use some of this latest funding to continue developing enhancements to that service, but also to invest in working unstructured data and with other data warehousing providers, too, according to Nick Halsey, the startup’s U.S.-based COO.
“This is a hot market segment right now. We power the AI apps that everyone is striving to deploy,” Halsey said. “Snowflake are the best at what it does. Right now we only work with structured data, but we will be expanding to other cloud data platforms.”
At a time when funding cycles are getting longer for a lot of startups — due in part to the current challenges of raising money at favored valuations, and in some cases raising any money at all — it’s notable that it’s only been 15 months since DataOps.live team raised their seed round of $10 million.
The interest in the company, and the need for more funding, are in part because of how it’s been growing. DataOps.live’s revenue run rate is up 400% in the last fiscal year. And the startup says that the last year saw more than 1 million pipelines run, over 10 million jobs orchestrated, and 50 million data tests performed. It projects exceeding all of those figures this year.
The problems that DataOps.live is addressing are commonplace in the world of data analytics: working with data across multiple containers and other locations can lead to slower development times, work backlog, and problems with version control — all issues that get compounded and more complex as data pipelines grow (and they are all growing). The pitch that DataOps.live makes is that its platform can help reduce the costs of managing and working with data by 30% by automating repetitive tasks, and by providing more insight into how data is moving to improve efficiency and security.
Co-founders Justin Mullen and Guy Adams can lay some claim to being early movers and even pioneers in the field of DataOps. Software developers by training, they built an early version of startup’s platform when they were working at a professional services company called Datalytyx, to create better structure around how they managed these issues for their clients.
The work they did was part coding — of the platform itself — and part formalizing the methodology, inspired by the work in DevOps. They went on to establish a community called TrueDataOps; they co-wrote a book (with others) called DataOps for Dummies; and they founded the startup announcing funding today. (Datalytyx was eventually acquired by Mphasis and the closing of that deal looks like it coincided with the launch of DataOps.live.)
Enterprise startups have continued to see a lot of business traction at a time when funding more consumer-first businesses feels a littl trickle. Notion’s interest in the company comes in part from that but also because of the growing need for better tools for those working with data. The DataOps Platform market is estimated to be worth some $3.9 billion currently, growing to $10.9 billion by 2028, and it’s growing as a competitive field, too, with AWS, Alteryx, dbt and many others also in the same space.
“Today, data is the lifeblood of business, but managing and scaling data operations can be a daunting task. Data needs can grow faster than operations teams can process, leading to either slow or one-off development efforts,” said Stephanie Opdam, a principal at Notion Capital, in a statement. “DataOps.live at the forefront of a movement that enables companies to improve data quality, streamline many data processes simultaneously and accelerate product development. DataOps.live has a fantastic and growing team, a great product, and impressive traction. We believe it has the potential to become the next category leader.”
And given how competitive the data warehousing market is, Snowflake’s interest is most likely to give it a closer relationship with a player in the DataOps space that has already proven to be tightly integrated with its platform.
“DataOps.live enables organizations to build, test and deploy Snowflake products and applications, the same way they do software applications. They increase speed of development and accelerate adoption, while maintaining governance and security,” Stefan Williams, head of corporate development and Snowflake Ventures, said when the startup was announcing its seed. “By expanding our partnership with DataOps.live, we offer joint customers the ability to collaborate with confidence inside their organizations and beyond. We look forward to supporting the DataOps.live team through the next stages of their growth.” | Software Applications |
Quantum computers have the potential to carry out highly complicated calculations in minutes that would have taken classical computers thousands of years to work out. But much of the industry is still in its infancy, partly because of a lack of domain experts and software tools that match the progress of quantum hardware.
Now companies are working to simplify the process of developing quantum software applications so programmers don’t actually need to understand the underlying quantum mechanics. One of the early-stage startups making such an effort is Singapore-based Horizon Quantum Computing, whose tools can automatically construct quantum algorithms based on programs written in classical languages.
The company recently picked up $18.1 million in a Series A round from Tencent along with other investors, boosting its equity financing to around $21.3 million. Other investors in the Series A round included Sequoia Capital India, SGInnovate, Pappas Capital and Expeditions Fund.
The money raised will be used for product development and its expansion in Europe, where the company is planning to open an office in Dublin, Ireland. The startup is also scheduled to launch the early access program of its developer tools later this year.
While Singapore is more widely known as a financial hub, it has also been one of the most proactive governments in supporting quantum technologies. The Center for Quantum Technologies, where Horizon Quantum Computing’s founder and CEO Joe Fitzsimons used to be a professor, was set up under the city-state’s Research Centres of Excellence program to advance research in the cutting-edge field.
“When I made the jump from academia, Singapore already had the right talent [for quantum computing] and there was access to capital,” said Fitzsimons, who earned a PhD from University of Oxford.
Neutral ground
As a country that has historically been rather politically neutral, Singapore is also less prone to trade or technological sanctions, the founder reckoned.
This is important in a world where businesses are increasingly caught in the tech war between the U.S. and China/ Launching from a neutral home base is now seen as a prerequisite to many tech firms, including quantum computer builders that rely on components sourced from around the world.
Tencent’s investment in Horizon Quantum Computing is purely financial so it won’t entail any transfer of sensitive data, the founder noted. The startup took Tencent’s investment because the giant is an “expert” in the area, he said.
Indeed, the social networking and gaming giant has shown a keen interest in the field by opening its quantum research lab in 2018. Ling Ge, Tencent’s chief representative in Europe and the main person who oversaw the deal in Horizon Quantum Computing, has known Fitzsimons since her years in Oxford where she studied quantum computing.
“At Tencent, we take a long-term perspective on quantum. In our own quantum lab, we are focused on fundamental research, first principles simulations and quantum algorithms, and how these might serve enterprise customers,” said Ge at an industry event last year.
“In terms of investments, we take a science-driven approach. One of the challenges in investing in quantum is what we call the ‘black box’ paradox. The challenge of evaluating early-stage deep tech companies in areas like quantum, nuclear fusion or biotech is difficult because the core technology is in its early proof-of-concept phase. It is hard to evaluate and understand at what stage of maturity it really is.
“Therefore, we take appropriate steps to mitigate the risks of this black box paradox depending on the investment stage. This is primarily achieved through our deep technical expertise, which allows us to really understand what is being developed and its maturity,” she said. | Software Applications |
Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Getty Images Toyota Financial Services (TFS) isn’t just the biggest auto lender in America, with $115 billion in assets. The NYSE-listed company has also morphed over the past few years into a digital business that other mobility companies can use to offer loans for anything that gets people around, including boats and RVs. Underpinning that shift is a mastery of software–and underpinning that mastery is a dedication to upskilling TFS’s tech workers through an internal training initiative known as the TFS Digital Academy. Founded three years ago, the academy saw 1,000 employees sign up for its courses in its first 12 months. By the end of May 2022, a total of over 5,000 TFS staff had taken one or more of its 1,000 courses covering topics such as data analytics and how to use application programming interfaces, which are chunks of code that let different software applications talk to one another. Speaking at the Forbes CIO Summit in Half Moon Bay, California last month, TFS’s chief information & digital officer Vipin Gupta said competition for talent remains intense–a verdict borne out by data from tech trade association CompTIA, which reported there were more than 443,000 open tech-oriented roles in the U.S last month, a 40% increase over the same time last year. He also stressed this situation makes it more important than ever that CIOs focus on upskilling existing tech workers through academies and other initiatives. “80% of the talent is there [inside your organization]. They are already connected to the purpose, the mission and the values. There’s a lot of talk about acquiring talent, but I think what will differentiate us is focusing on the people we already have.” Sabina Ewing, Global CIO of Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories Other prominent companies that have launched internal academies to hone tech workers’ skills include pharma giant Moderna, IT software business Adobe and credit-card and banking company Discover Financial Services. Of course, internal training programs are nothing new; what is new is the increasingly important role they’re playing in helping businesses adapt to a much faster clock speed of digital change. Sabina Ewing, the global CIO of pharma company Abbott Labs, emphasized this fact in her comments at the Forbes conference. “You can’t acquire enough talent to fill your needs,” she said. “You have to be upskilling.” The loyalty factor
“There are a lot of internal programs [that companies] are elevating to an extremely high priority,” says Graham Waller of tech research firm Gartner, who adds that Covid’s acceleration of digital plans and ambitions is a big factor behind this shift. “The jobs and skills are changing faster than we’ve ever seen before.” Discover’s tech academy, which launched in mid-2021, has helped the company attract and retain tech workers, says CIO Amir Arooni, who joined the company in April 2020. “There’s a very clear result if I look at the attrition rate in the market and I compare it with what we have.” That trend is reflected in surveys such as a recent one of over 750 tech workers in various industries conducted by online training provider Pluralsight. Three quarters of respondents to the poll said their loyalty to their organizations was influenced by the amount of resources the businesses’ devoted to skills development. Vipin Gupta, Chief Innovation & Digital Officer, Toyota Financial Services. Toyota Financial Services Discover, which boasts a tech team of 5,600 people, uses internal experts to give classes to other employees, as well as bringing in outside trainers. (CEO Roger Hochschild has even given a class on presentations and Arooni has taught one on setting objectives and key results.) Other companies are also heavily promoting peer-to-peer learning in their academies: At TFS, Boulton Fernando, its chief information security officer, teaches classes on cybersecurity, according to Gupta.
Although dedicated tech training academies have become more popular in the past few years, Gartner’s Waller sounds a cautionary note. Studies done by the research firm have shown that companies that embed training directly into daily workflows see considerably greater benefits in terms of outcomes than those who solely rely on learning academies. The outcomes are also better when the training provided is carefully tailored towards specific goals within digital transformation strategies rather than being more general.
To IT and beyond
That hasn’t stopped firms from rolling out training from academies that started in their tech divisions to their entire workforces. At Moderna, which used AI and other advanced technologies to speed the creation of its Covid-19 vaccine, courses from its AI academy are available to all of its employees, and at Zoetis, an $81 billion market cap global animal health giant, the IT team has created a company-wide training program, including skills in things such as data science and design thinking, to boost what it calls “digital fluency.”
All of TFS’s staff can also take courses from the company’s digital academy. In his comments at the Forbes CIO Summit, TFS’s Gupta said it generally doesn’t make sense to wall off access to such programs. “Harnessing the power of software is not just IT’s job; it’s everyone’s job in a digital company.” | Software Applications |
Top 15 New Technology Trends for 2023Technology continues to rule the world. It has made millions of businesses prosper. The use of new technology daily has increased the way each business works and makes people opt for something that gives timely evolutions based on the technology. Year by year, there are many new technologies. That is the reason the world is full of deadly innovations. Technology has also made its way into the future, where people started to live using avatars. Even the decentralized internet system is based on technological innovation. So, be sure that technology is the sole reason for any new attempt in this modern world.Let us look at the technological trends in the year 2023 that have caused an impact.1. BlockchainBlockchainA blockchain is a secure place where you can securely store data in any form. It is similar to the funds in a bank account, where the funds never get lost or stolen when placed inside. The information stored in such a chain cannot be altered or deleted. Blockchains are also consensus-driven, meaning no one organization can control the data. It eliminates the need for a reliable third party to supervise or verify transactions.2. 5G Network5G Network5G technology is the latest advancement that might alter people’s lives and the most recent operating standard for mobile hardware. Its features include faster data speeds, low-latency communication, and higher data caps for mobile devices. Because it expands the mobile spectrum to have lower and higher frequencies, 5G networks can handle a significantly higher bandwidth.3. Virtual Reality and Augmented RealityVirtual Reality and Augmented RealityThe market has been growing rapidly, creating new opportunities with the trend of welcoming people into the highly competitive field. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (ER) are the upcoming outstanding technological trends. While AR improves the environment, VR immerses the user in it.4. Computing PowerComputing PowerSince every appliance and device in the digital age is computerized, computing power has already cemented its position worldwide. Additionally, data science experts have predicted that the computing infrastructure that is currently under development will only improve over the next few years, so it’s here to stay.5. Smarter DevicesSmarter DevicesSmart software applications are always required to make your work life more manageable. However, these devices are another addition to the IT sector that is in high demand. It is because more businesses are entering the digital arena.6. Quantum ComputingQuantum ComputingThe following notable development in technology is quantum computing, a type of computation that uses quantum phenomena like superposition and quantum entanglement. Regardless of the source, it can easily query, monitor, analyze, and act on data. It is also used in the banking and finance industries for high-frequency trading, managing credit risk, and spotting fraud.7. DataficationDataficationEverything in our lives is being “dataficated” or converted into software or devices powered by data. In other words, it is the transformation of manual labor into data-driven technology. However, data will be around for much longer than we can remember, from smartphones to AI-powered appliances to industrial machinery and office software. Therefore, maintaining data securely and safely has become a sought-after specialty in the economy.8. Artificial Intelligence and Machine LearningArtificial Intelligence and Machine LearningEven though artificial intelligence, or AI, has generated a lot of buzz over the past ten years, it is still one of the newest technological trends because its effects on how we live, work, and play are just beginning to be felt. AI is well-known for its superiority in many fields, including ride-sharing apps, smartphone personal assistants, image and speech recognition, navigation apps, and more.9. Extended RealityExtended RealityVirtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and all other technologies that simulate reality are collectively referred to as “extended reality.” It is a significant trend at the moment because they yearn to transcend the alleged real boundaries of the world. This technology, which creates a reality devoid of any physical presence, is well-liked by gamers, medical professionals, retail, and modeling professionals.10. Digital TrustDigital TrustAnother important trend that will spur more innovations is digital trust. Digital conviction is that technology can create a secure, safe, and reliable digital world, allowing businesses to innovate without worrying about maintaining the public’s trust.11. 3D Printing3D PrintingThe use of 3D printing to create prototypes is a significant trend in innovation and technology. The impact of this has been felt in the industrial and biomedical fields. We never considered printing a real object from a printer, but it is possible today. Therefore, 3D printing is a further innovation that will endure. It is an important factor for businesses in healthcare and data as 3D printers are needed for printing their products.12. GenomicsGenomicsGenomics is a technology used to study your DNA and improve your health by curing any disease. It can aid in quantifying your genes and lead to the discovery of conditions or other potential issues that may later become health problems.13. New Energy SolutionsNew Energy SolutionsFor the benefit of the planet’s ecosystems and the energy that is consumed, everyone has agreed to go green. As a result, homes use greener options like solar and renewable energy, and cars run on electricity or batteries.14. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)Robotic Process Automation (RPA)Robotic Process Automation( RPA) is a technology that automates AI and machine learning jobs. It refers to using software to automate business processes, including application interpretation, transaction processing, data handling, and even email replying.15. Edge ComputingEdge ComputingOrganizations are becoming more and more aware of the limitations of cloud computing as they deal with growing amounts of data. Edge computing works by bypassing cloud computing’s latency and transferring data directly to a data center for processing.ConclusionTechnology is vast and has gone high as people try new technologies daily to stay on top of the trend. So, be a part of the upcoming trend and make a way into Web3. To simplify your life, you can start living in the metaverse by digitalizing everything you wish. | Software Applications |
As digital transformation takes hold and businesses become increasingly reliant on digital services, it has become more important than ever to secure applications and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). With that said, application security and API security are two critical components of a comprehensive security strategy. By utilizing these practices, organizations can protect themselves from malicious attacks and security threats, and most importantly, ensure their data remains secure.
Interestingly enough, despite the clear advantages these disciplines provide, businesses are struggling to understand which security approach is best for their needs. So in this article, we'll discuss the differences between application and API security, best practices that you should consider, and ultimately make the case for why you need both.
What is Application Security
Application security, better known as AppSec, is a critical aspect of any organization's cybersecurity strategy. Application security helps protect data and systems from unauthorized access, modification, or data destruction by utilizing techniques around authentication and authorization, encryption, access control, secure coding practices, and more.
The benefits of application security are numerous. It can help protect sensitive data from being stolen or misused, reduce the risk of data breaches, and ensure that applications are compliant with industry regulations. Additionally, application security can help organizations reduce the costs associated with responding to a security incident by providing proactive measures that reduce the risk of a successful attack. Finally, it can also improve customer trust by providing a secure environment for customers to interact with your business.
According to the ISACA, the five key components of an application security program are:
- Security by design
- Secure code testing
- Software bill of materials
- Security training and awareness
- WAFs and API security gateways and rule development
In the next section, we'll take a look at how API security fits into this framework, as well as where it still needs to be addressed.
Comparing Application Security vs. API Security
Though often used synonymously, AppSec and API security are very distinct disciplines. API security helps to protect APIs from unauthorized access, misuse, and abuse. It also helps to protect against malicious attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other types of attacks. By implementing proper API security measures, organizations can ensure that their applications remain secure and protected from potential threats.
As you can see, securing APIs is a critical aspect of a proper application security strategy. However, to be clear, API Security is different enough from 'traditional' Application Security that it requires specific consideration. AppSec focuses on protecting the entire application while API security focuses on protecting the APIs that are used to connect modern applications and exchange data.
The biggest difference between an API and an Application is how each impacts the user. APIs are intended to be used by software applications, while software applications themselves are intended to be used by humans. This implies different security controls are required. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's dig into how API security is embedded within four of the five key components of AppSec and where it still needs help:
Security by design
The core idea here "is to consider security at the point of architecture and design, before any source code is written or compiled." The ISACA goes on to say that "controls can include, but are not limited to, the use of web application firewalls (WAFs) and application program interface (API) security gateways, encryption capabilities, authentication and secrets management, logging requirements, and other security controls."
With that in mind, in the 2022 Hype Cycle for Application Security, Gartner points out that "traditional network and web protection tools do not protect against all the security threats facing APIs, including many of those described in the OWASP API Security Top 10." Which illustrates the need for developers and security professionals to consider unique nuances of API protection in their cybersecurity strategy.
Discover all of the elements to consider when securing APIs by downloading in the in-depth API Security Buyers Guide.
Secure code testing
As you can imagine, application security testing (AST) and API security testing are different disciplines. Ultimately the goal of securing the software development lifecycle (SDLC) is the same, but the approaches are fundamentally different. The ISACA recommends pursuing traditional security testing methods like static application security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST). They also recommend supplementing AppSec testing with penetration (pen) testing. The problem here is that APIs require additional testing that these techniques cannot address.
According to Gartner, "traditional AST tools — SAST, DAST and interactive AST (IAST) — were not originally designed to test for vulnerabilities associated with typical attacks against
APIs. They go on to say that, "to identify the optimal approach to API testing, they are looking to a mix of traditional tools (such as static AST [SAST] and dynamic AST [DAST]) and emerging solutions focused specifically on the requirements of APIs." A good example to explain their rationale would be the discovery of each individual endpoint and it's associated CRUD operations depending on the authentication/authorization. This is something SAST tools simply cannot do.
You can learn more about the key differences Gartner is calling out by downloading the new ebook, API Security Testing For Dummies.
Security training and awareness
According to the ISACA, "all developers should be minimally trained on the Open Worldwide Application Security Project Top 10 list (OWASP Top 10)". However, this list of web application risks is just a piece of the puzzle. Due to the unique vulnerabilities APIs present, coupled with the rise in API related security breaches, OWASP established the OWASP API Security Top 10. This list addresses the most pressing API threats facing organizations. With that said, it's important for developers to abide by both lists in order to secure their applications and APIs.
You can learn how to defend against these critical vulnerabilities in the ebook, Mitigating OWASP Top 10 API Security Threats.
WAFs and API security gateways and rule development
There is no denying that both API gateways and web application firewalls (WAFs) are important components of the API delivery stack. To be honest, neither are designed to provide the security controls and observability required to adequately protect APIs. And organizations are now realizing the false sense of security they had thinking their WAF or API gateway were enough to keep their APIs secure.
The reality is, you need a purpose-built API security platform to find your APIs, evaluate their security posture and monitor for any unusual network traffic or patterns of use. Otherwise, you're just fooling yourself that your APIs are safe from cyber-attacks. If you're interested in seeing how these legacy tools measure up to a purpose-built platform, check out this comparison page.
How Noname Security Provides Comprehensive API Protection
Noname Security is the only company taking a complete, proactive approach to API Security. Noname works with 20% of the Fortune 500 and covers the entire API security scope — Discovery, Posture Management, Runtime Protection, and API Security Testing.
With Noname Security, you can monitor API traffic in real-time to uncover insights into data leakage, data tampering, data policy violations, suspicious behavior, and API security attacks. We also provide a suite of over 150 custom-built API security tests based on years of enterprise-grade API security experience, not relying on generalized approaches like fuzzing. You can run the suite of tests on-demand or as part of a CI/CD pipeline.
If you're interested in learning more about Noname Security and how we can help secure your API estate, visit nonamesecurity.com. | Software Applications |
ARM is set to return to the public markets with a massive IPO on Thursday.
The SoftBank-owned chip designer has built its success offering designs to smartphone makers.
But the company is now preparing a fresh push into the AI sector.
British chip designer ARM is set to make its highly anticipated return to the public markets with the biggest IPO in two years as it prepares to start trading on Thursday in a key moment for the AI boom.
The chip designer, which has been privately owned since being bought for $32 billion by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank in 2016, has priced its shares at $51. This gives it a valuation of almost $55 billion ahead of its NASDAQ listing.
The public listing is a huge moment for the tech sector, which has seen an IPO drought take hold as soaring interest rates and tougher economic conditions have soured investor appetite towards tech businesses commanding premium valuations.
But the IPO is set to be a massive test of confidence in the AI boom that has taken hold since the launch of ChatGPT, with ARM desperate to make the case that it has a vital role to play in pushing AI development forward.
At its heart, the Cambridge-based business founded in 1990 is a semiconductor firm, which has made its name as a specialist in delivering chip designs with low power consumption to some of the world's biggest smartphone makers, such as Apple.
ARM has shipped more than 250 billion chips since its inception, per details in its IPO prospectus, while SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has developed a vision of a world where ARM's chips are planted in as many devices as possible.
However, a slowdown in the smartphone market, where growth has become increasingly stagnant in recent years, has led ARM to explore new growth opportunities. That has made the rising AI industry a fundamental target.
In its F1 SEC filing in August, ARM made the case that "the massive expansion of data, advanced software applications and AI are driving the need for high-performance compute capabilities" — a need it hopes to fulfill with its core processing units (CPUs.)
"The CPU is vital in all AI systems," it said in the filing. It will be banking on others to believe that its CPUs will play a crucial part in supporting AI models of the future.
There is some hope for ARM here, as Silicon Valley chip giant Nvidia, which has played a huge role in the development of large language models underpinning AI tools like ChatGPT with its GPUs, hit a $1 trillion market capitalization in May amid outsized demand for its products.
Whether ARM enjoys a similar ride-up remains to be seen, but enthusiasm, or lack of, from investors for its offering could dictate how others in the AI industry approach their growth strategy. All eyes are on ARM.
Read the original article on Business Insider | Software Applications |
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. gave a lackluster forecast for sales growth in its Azure cloud-computing services business, a closely watched measure of corporate demand, sending the shares reeling in early trading Wednesday.Most Read from BloombergAdidas Cuts Ties With Ye, Absorbing €250 Million Profit HitNew Covid Boosters Aren’t Better Than Old Ones, Study FindsRenters Hit Breaking Point in a Sudden Reversal for LandlordsMusk Tells Bankers He Plans to Close Twitter Deal on FridayToo Much Gas. Europe’s Energy Crisis Takes a Surprise TurnRevenue growth for Azure, which lets companies run and store software applications, will drop by five percentage points in the current period from the prior quarter, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said on a conference call Tuesday. Azure sales rose 42% in the fiscal first quarter, excluding the impact of foreign-currency exchange rates, implying a gain of 37% for the second quarter, which ends in December.Shares slid 5.5% during pre-market trading in New York on Wednesday after having risen to $250.66 at Tuesday’s close. While the stock jumped 51% in 2021, it has fallen 25% so far this year amid a rout in large technology stocks. During the recent quarter, the company’s shares declined 9.3%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 5.3%.Earlier, Microsoft posted its weakest quarterly sales growth in five years, throttled by the surging U.S. dollar, slumping PC demand and faltering advertising revenue. As the global economy teeters on the brink of a recession, sales of Windows software to PC makers swooned 15% in the recent period, and Hood forecast continued challenges in PC and ad markets for the rest of the fiscal year.On the call, Hood said demand for Azure and new contract signings both remain strong among large customers, but the software maker is helping customers to run applications and tasks more efficiently and at a lower cost. That ignited fresh concerns that demand may sputter further for Azure, which has been driving Microsoft’s resurgence as a technology powerhouse in recent years.“The tone has definitely changed,” said Dan Morgan, a senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co. “We’ve started to get a big change-up in software spending surveys -- there’s a general consensus of ‘hey, you know, the economy is slowing down and we’re watching our expenses.’”The Azure commentary hit particularly hard with shareholders who look to that business as a barometer of Microsoft’s future growth prospects. A few years ago, the division was doubling sales every quarter. Growth rates have slowed as total revenue became large enough to make gains of that magnitude more challenging, and Hood said the company is reaching out “proactively to customers and making sure we are helping them optimize their workloads,” particularly as the weakening economy causes customers to worry about spending.Profit margins are also worsening because of rising energy costs, particularly in Europe, which are cutting into cloud-computing profits. Microsoft will spend an additional $800 million this year to cover the higher cost of powering data centers, particularly in Europe, Hood said. And the weakness in Windows means less revenue from what remains a very high-margin part of Microsoft’s portfolio.The Redmond, Washington-based company will continue to invest in key strategic priorities, Hood and Chief Executive Satya Nadella said. But Microsoft will also aim to limit expenses, particularly around hiring. Hood forecast headcount increases will be minimal during the current quarter. The company has already had two small rounds of job cuts, and has eliminated many open roles in a bid to slow hiring.Sales in the first quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose 11% to $50.1 billion. Net income was $17.6 billion, or $2.35 a share. On average, analysts had estimated fiscal first-quarter sales of $49.6 billion and profit of $2.29 a share, according to a Bloomberg survey. Demand remained strong for cloud services, with Office 365 sales to businesses performing slightly better than expected, and the majority of large customers that signed up for Microsoft 365 licenses opting for the higher-end version, Hood said.“While we are not immune, of course, from macroeconomic impacts, we really feel good about the businesses we are investing in, the strong growth rate, the position in the market,” Hood said.(Updates with shares in third paragraph.)Most Read from Bloomberg BusinessweekWhat the Alzheimer’s Drug Breakthrough Means for Other DiseasesThe Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding10 Takeaways From Matt Levine’s ‘The Crypto Story’The Private Jet That Took 100 Russians Away From Putin’s WarFemale Bosses Face a New Bias: Employees Refusing to Work Overtime©2022 Bloomberg L.P. | Software Applications |
While consumers may be looking to scam retailers as the cost of living crisis deepens, cyber criminals are also on the rampage through the sector, with a range of automated threats – from account takeover, credit card fraud, web scraping, API abuses, Grinch bots and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks – all becoming a persistent challenge for the eCommerce industry, threatening online sales and customer satisfaction. The continued barrage of attacks on retailers’ websites, applications, and APIs throughout the calendar year, and during the peak holiday shopping season, is a continued business risk for the retail industry, finds The State of Security Within eCommerce 2022, the latest report from Imperva. “The holiday shopping season is a critical period for the retail industry, and security threats could undermine retailers’ bottom line again in 2022,” says Lynn Marks, Senior Product Manager, Imperva. “This industry faces a variety of security risks, the majority of which are automated and operate around the clock. Retailers need a unified approach to stop these persistent attacks, one that focuses on the protection of data and is equipped to mitigate attacks quickly without disrupting shoppers.” An automated adversary: bad bots & online fraud plague retail sites In the past 12 months, nearly 40% of traffic on retailers’ websites didn’t come from a human. Instead, it came from a bot, software applications controlled by operators that run automated tasks, often with malicious intent. In the retail industry, the infamous Grinch bot is notorious for inventory hoarding during the holiday shopping season, scooping up high-demand items and making it challenging for consumers to purchase gifts online. Of all the traffic on retailers’ websites, nearly one-quarter (23.7%) was attributed specifically to bad bots, malicious automation that contributes to online fraud. The proportion of advanced bots — scripts that use the latest evasion techniques to mimic human behavior and avoid detection — on retail sites grew over the prior year (from 23.4% to 31.1%). Advanced bots are a considerable challenge for organizations to stop without the right defenses in place. In 2021, bot-related attacks on retail sites grew 10% in October and grew another 34% in November, suggesting that bot operators increase their nefarious efforts around peak holiday shopping periods. Account takeover (ATO) is another form of online fraud in which cybercriminals attempt to compromise online accounts by using stolen passwords and usernames. In 2021, 64.1% of ATO attacks used an advanced bad bot. Of all login attempts on retail websites, 22.6% were malicious, nearly twice the volume of recorded on sites across other industries. Attackers used leaked credentials 94.7% of the time in credential stuffing attacks targeting retailers, compared to 69.6% of the time in other industries. API abuses and attacks multiply, creating new challenges for retailers APIs are the invisible connective tissue that enable applications to share data and invoke digital services. Analysis by Imperva Threat Research finds that traffic from an API accounts for 41.6% of all traffic to online retailers’ sites and applications. Of that, 12% of traffic directs to endpoints, like a database, where personal data is stored (credentials, identification numbers, etc.). More concerning, 3 – 5% of API traffic is directed to undocumented or Shadow APIs, endpoints that security teams don’t know exist or no longer protect. Exposed or vulnerable APIs are a considerable threat for retailers because attackers can use the API as a pathway for exfiltrating customer data and payment information. API abuses are often carried out through automated attacks where a botnet floods the API with unwanted traffic, seeking vulnerable applications and unprotected data. In 2021, API attacks increased by 35% between September and October, and then spiked another 22% in November on top of the previous months’ elevated attack levels. This finding suggests that bad actors scale their efforts around the holiday shopping season as more data is exchanged between APIs and applications that power eCommerce services. Beware of downtime: ddos attacks continue to threaten retailers A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an automated threat that attempts to disrupt critical business operations by flooding the network or application infrastructure with malicious traffic. The attacks are often launched by a botnet, a group of compromised connected devices that are distributed across the Internet and operated by a single party. Imperva Threat Research finds that DDoS attacks in 2022 are larger and stronger across all industries. The number of incidents recorded that were greater than 100 Gbps doubled, and attacks larger than 500 Gbps/0.5 Tbps increased 287%. What’s more, those targeted by an attack are often attacked again within 24 hours. Imperva finds that 55% of websites hit by an application-layer DDoS and 80% hit by a network-layer DDoS were attacked multiple times. A DDoS attack is a nonstop threat for retailers. The downtime caused by a DDoS attack can lead to site disruption, reputational damage, and revenue loss. A DDoS is a critical threat to online retailers that rely on application performance and availability to enable digital storefronts. | Software Applications |
According to GlobalData, the global enterprise networking market is estimated at US$316.4 billion in 2020. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 7% during the forecast period (2020-2025). Rising adoption of wireless devices, cloud services, IoT, and other digital solutions, and growing demand for strong enterprise network connectivity amid an increase in adoption of work from home and remote working model is driving enterprises to ramp up and strengthen their networking infrastructure and invest in network solutions. Focus on modernizing networks using software with a focus on high bandwidth networks and expanding wireless network capabilities is gaining prominence among enterprises.The global enterprise networking market research report provides an executive-level overview of the current enterprise network market worldwide, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2025. Published annually, the report provides a detailed analysis of the near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics, and evolution of demand by product/service type and verticals across the large enterprise and micro, small & medium enterprise (MSME) markets, as well as a review of key networking market trends as well as the technological developments that are shaping the enterprise networking (also known as enterprise network) market landscape.To gain more information on the global enterprise networking market forecast, download a free sampleGlobal Enterprise Networking Market Segmentation by Product/Service Types The global enterprise networking market is divided into three product/service types namely: Software/Applications
Hardware/Resources
Services Global Enterprise Networking Market Share by Product/Service Types For more enterprise networking market analysis by product/service type, download a free sample
Networking services represent the largest contributor to the total enterprise networking market valueNetwork services will be the largest contributor, with a market size estimated at US$239.6 billion in 2020 and growing to US$333.8 billion by 2025 end. The rising complexity of network management due to wireless deployments and increasing network security issues are driving the demand for network services among enterprises. Networking software, comprising SD-WAN, represents the fastest-growing segment of the total enterprise networking market.
Global Enterprise Networking Market Segmentation by VerticalThe BFSI sector is the largest end-use market for enterprise networking. The report analyses the global enterprise networking market across several industry verticals including: BFSI
Manufacturing
Information Technology
Retail
Energy
Construction Global Enterprise Networking Market Share by Vertical For more enterprise networking market analysis by vertical, download a free sample
Global Enterprise Networking Market Segmentation by Enterprise Size BandThe report also analyses the global enterprise networking market with respect to the enterprise size band in two major categories namely: SME
Large Enterprises Global Enterprise Networking Market Share by Enterprise Size Band For more enterprise networking market analysis by enterprise size band, download a free sample
Large enterprises in different verticals, like Transport and logistics, Energy, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Government, Retail, BFSI, Consumer Goods, Construction, and IT are transforming their IT architecture for digital enablement. They are realigning their focus on launching new applications and services by leveraging new technologies such as AI, IoT, analytics, mobility, and blockchain that demand agility, scalability, and computing capabilities, thereby creating incremental demand for the enterprise network market.
Global Enterprise Networking Market Segmentation by RegionsThe global enterprise networking report also analyses the enterprise network market across six regions: Asia Pacific
North America
Western Europe
Middle East & Africa
Central & Eastern Europe
South & Central America Global Enterprise Networking Market Share by Regions For more enterprise Networking market analysis by region, download a free sample
According to GlobalData’s analysis, Asia-Pacific is the leading regional market with revenue estimated at $80.6 billion for 2020 and will grow at a CAGR of more than 7% over the forecast period. Growth in the region will be driven by the expanding enterprise sector, especially with the rising number of IT and other tech enterprises in developing Asian countries such as China and India, the ongoing digitalization in various sectors such as manufacturing, and the growing adoption of cloud infrastructure and the subsequent need for advanced network solutions.
Vendor LandscapeThe Global Enterprise Networking vendor landscape is dominated by prominent international players such as AT&T, CenturyLink, and Verizon.
Other Companies MentionedTata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, Adaptiv Networks, Telia Carrier, Kerlink, Helium, Everynet, BT, Vodafone, Nokia, Ericsson, O2 UK, Huawei, Megaport, Packet Fabric, Indosat Ooredoo, Singtel, and NetFoundry
To know more about leading enterprise networking companies, download a free sample
Global Enterprise Network Market Overview Market Size 2021
$316.4 billion CAGR
>7% Forecast Period
2020-2025 Product/Service Types
Software/Application, Hardware/Resource, Services Key Industry Verticals
BFSI, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, Energy, and Construction Enterprise Size Band
SME and Large Enterprises Key Regions
North America, Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and South and Central America Leading Companies
AT&T, CenturyLink, and Verizon. Global Enterprise Networking Market Scope
The market intelligence report provides an in-depth analysis of the following – Global Enterprise Networking market outlook by product/service type: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of revenue opportunities from the enterprise network product/service type.
Global Enterprise Networking market outlook by enterprise size band: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of revenue opportunities from the enterprise size band perspective.
Global Enterprise Networking market outlook by regions: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of revenue opportunities from a regional perspective.
Global Enterprise Networking market outlook by verticals: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of revenue opportunities from the key vertical industry segments.
Global Enterprise Networking market outlook by revenue opportunity: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of revenue opportunities from a regional perspective.
The vendor landscape: an examination of the positioning of leading players in the enterprise network market.
Underlying assumptions behind our published base-case forecasts, as well as potential market developments that would alter, either positively or negatively, our base-case outlook. Reasons to Buy This market intelligence report offers a thorough, forward-looking analysis of Global Enterprise Networking, service providers, and key opportunities in a concise format to help executives build proactive and profitable growth strategies.Accompanying GlobalData’s Forecast products, the report examines the assumptions and drivers behind ongoing and upcoming trends in the Global Enterprise Networking market.The report also highlights vertical industries (Transport and logistics, Energy, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Government, Retail, BFSI, Consumer Goods, Construction, and IT).With charts and tables, the report is designed for an executive-level audience, boasting presentation quality.The report provides an easily digestible market assessment for decision-makers built around in-depth information gathered from local market players, which enables executives to quickly get up to speed with the current and emerging trends in the Global Enterprise Networking market.The broad perspective of the report coupled with comprehensive, actionable detail will help enterprise network hardware vendors, service providers, and other players succeed in the growing Enterprise Network worldwide. Key Players Tata TeleservicesBharti AirtelCiscoAdaptiv NetworksTelia CarrierSenetEverynetKerlinkGuavusMist SystemsEricssonGoogle CloudCUJO AITata CommunicationsSparkChina Mobile GuangdongHuaweiBTVodafoneO2 UKMegaportPacketFabricAT&TCenturyLink (Lumen)Verizon Table of Contents Table of ContentsExecutive summarySection 1: The Global Enterprise Network Market Overview– Market opportunity forecast product/service category analysis– Market opportunity forecast regional analysis– Market opportunity forecast vertical analysis– Market opportunity forecast size band analysisSection 2: TrendsSection 3: DriversSection 4: Challenges & InhibitorsSection 5: Vendor LandscapeSection 6: Opportunities & RecommendationsAbout GlobalData Frequently Asked Questions The Global Enterprise Networking market size was valued at $316.4 billion in 2020. The Global Enterprise Networking market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period. The deluge of the content delivery network (CDN) and data centers, 5G development, network-as-a-Service (NaaS), rising on-demand video content, and mobile video communication are the key drivers for the enterprise networking market globally. Product/service type segments: Hardware/Resources, Software/Applications, IT Services
Vertical segments: BFSI, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, Energy, and Construction
Enterprise size band: SME and Large Enterprises The key regions analyzed in the global enterprise IT security market are North America, Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Middle East & Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, and South & Central America. The leading global enterprise networking companies in the global networking market report are Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, Adaptiv Networks, Telia Carrier, BT, Vodafone, Nokia, Ericsson, O2 UK, and Huawei among others. | Software Applications |
- Through a strategic partnership, Microsoft plans to integrate Builder.ai's own AI assistant Natasha in its Teams video and chat software to let customers build business apps within the platform.
- Microsoft has also taken an equity stake in Builder.ai. The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.
- The deal signifies a further bid by Microsoft to ramp up its efforts in AI, which has become a core focus for the company as it looks to become a leader in the technology.
LONDON — Microsoft invested an undisclosed sum into Builder.ai, a startup that helps companies make applications without any coding experience, doubling down on its artificial intelligence efforts.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, Builder.ai falls into the camp of startups that make so-called "no-code" and "low-code" platforms. Its software allows anyone from tech-shy artists looking to sell their work online to design professionals with limited programming experience to develop and manage apps.
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Through a strategic partnership, Microsoft plans to integrate Builder.ai's own AI assistant Natasha into its Teams video and chat software to let customers build business apps within the platform. Builder.ai will also enhance Natasha by leveraging Microsoft's AI algorithms to make it sound more human, the company said.
The collaboration will give Builder.ai and its clients access to Microsoft's Azure suite of cloud tools, including a set of AI services it offers through a tie-up with U.S. startup OpenAI, Builder.ai said. Developers on the Microsoft Azure platform will also be able to tap into Builder.ai's network of experts, it added.
"We're all convinced that the future of software is going to be where the customer doesn't need to be technical," Duggal told CNBC in an interview. "What we're really doing is bringing together a world where customers are able to build software, run software, host software."
"For Microsoft, it opens up not only a brand new customer that's become digital native, but somebody that's coming on to the Azure Cloud, where that building of the software is leveraging core parts of the Microsoft stack, as well as the Builder stack. So I think from that perspective, it's really quite holistic. And the mission really is to empower the next 100 million software applications."
Jon Tinter, corporate vice president of business development at Microsoft, said the deal marked "an extension of our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more."
"We see Builder.ai creating an entirely new category that empowers everyone to be a developer and our new, deeper collaboration fuelled by Azure AI will bring the combined power of both companies to businesses around the world," Tinter said in a statement.
Builder.ai and Microsoft declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.
Microsoft has massively expanded its investments in AI lately, plowing a reported $13 billion into OpenAI, the company behind popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, and incorporating the firm's AI language processing software into its Bing search engine and Office productivity apps.
The deal signifies a further bid by Microsoft to ramp up its efforts in AI, which has become a key focus for the company as it looks to become a leader in the technology and compete more aggressively in search with fellow technology giant Google.
The Alphabet-owned company has made investments of its own into AI, seeking to make digital entities more conversational and humanlike with its LaMDA language processing model, and rolling out a rival to ChatGPT called Bard.
Microsoft already offers its own suite of no-code app development tools. With Builder.ai, it is hoping to advance its expertise in this area.
A critical component of the deal for Builder.ai is the endorsement of the world's second-most valuable tech company, Duggal said.
"If you imagine we're going to go speak to big enterprise ... who's going to ask us about competency at that point?" Duggal told CNBC. "It gives you a huge leverage from go to market [strategy], which in itself benefits both partners."
Builder.ai has raised a total of $195 million in funding to date, according to Crunchbase data. It is one of numerous startups that have benefited from renewed investor interest in AI technology lately.
At the same time, advances in the technology have led to concerns from researchers that it is getting too powerful. In March, a group of tech heavyweights including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak wrote an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of AI more powerful than GPT-4, OpenAI's latest large language model. | Software Applications |
Technology — Sponsored By: American Edge Project
House panel to debate bill allowing president to ban TikTok
A bill that would allow the president to ban TikTok will be marked up by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
The proposed bill, the latest to hit Congress with the goal of banning TikTok, was introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) last week. It follows a Republican bicameral bill to ban TikTok introduced last month by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.).
McCaul’s proposal, the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act, would adjust the Berman amendments, according to a GOP aide.
The amendments are a more than three-decades old exception to the International Emergency Powers Act. That limits the president’s authority to regulate informational materials under the act and aims to promote the free exchange of ideas across nations.
McCaul’s bill seeks to clarify the exemption so that it does not apply to “sensitive personal data,” making software applications like TikTok, owned by Chinese-based ByteDance, potentially eligible to be banned.
News of the scheduled mark up was first reported by Punchbowl News reporter John Bresnahan on Twitter.
“My bill empowers the administration to ban TikTok or any software applications that threaten U.S. national security. And make no mistake — TikTok is a security threat,” McCaul said in a statement. “Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone.”
Some members oppose this version of a TikTok ban
In a statement tweeted by Bresnahan, a Democratic spokesperson said House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) is opposed to the bill.
“Ranking Member Meeks is willing to work in a bipartisan way to address cybersecurity threats posed by Chinese firms under the influence of the PRC and is continuing to negotiate with Chairman McCaul at this very minute,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, Mr. McCaul’s hastily introduced legislation would result in sanctions on companies allied in countries in Europe and Asia.”
The spokesperson added that Meeks would like to see what comes from the administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review before “taking the unprecedented step of banning an app used by more than 100 million Americans.”
President Joe Biden ordered CFIUS to review TikTok in June 2021, after he withdrew executive orders issued under former President Trump to ban downloads of the app in the U.S. Few details have emerged about the administration’s review in the time since.
A TikTok spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment in response to McCaul’s proposal.
TikTok has said it is not a national security threat
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter has previously pushed back on allegations that TikTok poses a national security threat, which is the basis of the GOP push to ban the app nationwide.
In a statement to The Hill earlier this month, based on Hawley and Buck’s bill, Oberwetter said TikTok’s policy “clearly states [that] we collect ‘keystroke patterns or rhythms.’ This is not the same as collecting the content of keystrokes.”
That data is used to help TikTok detect spam and bots, and to assist with “debugging, troubleshooting, and monitoring for proper performance,” she said.
“We understand that there are concerns about TikTok. That is [why] we have been working with [The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] CFIUS for over two years on a plan to address those concerns in the U.S.,” Oberwetter said in an email.
Hawley successfully made a push to get a ban on TikTok on government devices added to a government funding package at the end of last year. It was later signed into law by Biden.
The efforts to pass an overarching ban on the app, though, faces a tougher battle. | Software Applications |
Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Getty Images Toyota Financial Services (TFS) isn’t just the biggest auto lender in America, with $115 billion in assets. The NYSE-listed company has also morphed over the past few years into a digital business that other mobility companies can use to offer loans for anything that gets people around, including boats and RVs. Underpinning that shift is a mastery of software–and underpinning that mastery is a dedication to upskilling TFS’s tech workers through an internal training initiative known as the TFS Digital Academy. Founded three years ago, the academy saw 1,000 employees sign up for its courses in its first 12 months. By the end of May 2022, a total of over 5,000 TFS staff had taken one or more of its 1,000 courses covering topics such as data analytics and how to use application programming interfaces, which are chunks of code that let different software applications talk to one another. Speaking at the Forbes CIO Summit in Half Moon Bay, California last month, TFS’s chief information & digital officer Vipin Gupta said competition for talent remains intense–a verdict borne out by data from tech trade association CompTIA, which reported there were more than 443,000 open tech-oriented roles in the U.S last month, a 40% increase over the same time last year. He also stressed this situation makes it more important than ever that CIOs focus on upskilling existing tech workers through academies and other initiatives. “80% of the talent is there [inside your organization]. They are already connected to the purpose, the mission and the values. There’s a lot of talk about acquiring talent, but I think what will differentiate us is focusing on the people we already have.” Sabina Ewing, Global CIO of Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories Other prominent companies that have launched internal academies to hone tech workers’ skills include pharma giant Moderna, IT software business Adobe and credit-card and banking company Discover Financial Services. Of course, internal training programs are nothing new; what is new is the increasingly important role they’re playing in helping businesses adapt to a much faster clock speed of digital change. Sabina Ewing, the global CIO of the healthcare company Abbott Labs, emphasized this fact in her comments at the Forbes conference. “You can’t acquire enough talent to fill your needs,” she said. “You have to be upskilling.” The loyalty factor
“There are a lot of internal programs [that companies] are elevating to an extremely high priority,” says Graham Waller of tech research firm Gartner, who adds that Covid’s acceleration of digital plans and ambitions is a big factor behind this shift. “The jobs and skills are changing faster than we’ve ever seen before.” Discover’s tech academy, which launched in mid-2021, has helped the company attract and retain tech workers, says CIO Amir Arooni, who joined the company in April 2020. “There’s a very clear result if I look at the attrition rate in the market and I compare it with what we have.” That trend is reflected in surveys such as a recent one of over 750 tech workers in various industries conducted by online training provider Pluralsight. Three quarters of respondents to the poll said their loyalty to their organizations was influenced by the amount of resources the businesses’ devoted to skills development. Vipin Gupta, Chief Innovation & Digital Officer, Toyota Financial Services. Toyota Financial Services Discover, which boasts a tech team of 5,600 people, uses internal experts to give classes to other employees, as well as bringing in outside trainers. (CEO Roger Hochschild has even given a class on presentations and Arooni has taught one on setting objectives and key results.) Other companies are also heavily promoting peer-to-peer learning in their academies: At TFS, Boulton Fernando, its chief information security officer, teaches classes on cybersecurity, according to Gupta.
Although dedicated tech training academies have become more popular in the past few years, Gartner’s Waller sounds a cautionary note. Studies done by the research firm have shown that companies that embed training directly into daily workflows see considerably greater benefits in terms of outcomes than those who solely rely on learning academies. The outcomes are also better when the training provided is carefully tailored towards specific goals within digital transformation strategies rather than being more general.
To IT and beyond
That hasn’t stopped firms from rolling out training from academies that started in their tech divisions to their entire workforces. At Moderna, which used AI and other advanced technologies to speed the creation of its Covid-19 vaccine, courses from its AI academy are available to all of its employees, and at Zoetis, an $81 billion market cap global animal health giant, the IT team has created a company-wide training program, including skills in things such as data science and design thinking, to boost what it calls “digital fluency.”
All of TFS’s staff can also take courses from the company’s digital academy. In his comments at the Forbes CIO Summit, TFS’s Gupta said it generally doesn’t make sense to wall off access to such programs. “Harnessing the power of software is not just IT’s job; it’s everyone’s job in a digital company.” | Software Applications |
Quite a few years ago, I wrote a blog post about the most pirated software applications. I was curious about what had changed over the years. To my surprise, not much it seems.Software Piracy, the act of obtaining and using software that the user does not own a license to. Pirated Software has been around for as long as computers and software have existed. The distribution of pirated software has changed a lot of the years but it has always existed and will continue into the forseable future. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way.When I was a teenager in the 90’s, pirated software was distributed over bulliten board systems (BBS), IRC chat rooms, public and private FTP sites and newsgroups. Many of those sound foreign to the younger generation of internet pirates because they almost soley use bittorrent to distribute pirated software today. It’s also much easier for them to find since there are torrent sites that make it easy to search for practically anything such as software, movies, books, etc.Enough history, on with the list of the most pirated software for 2022.Top 10 Most Pirated SoftwareMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft WindowsFL StudioAdobe PhotoshopAdobe PremiereWinRARAdobe After EffectsAdobe IllustratorAbleton LiveAdobe Acrobat ProTaking a look at most pirated software, there are some things that haven’t changed over the years. Microsoft and Adobe software has always been heavily pirated. In particular Windows, Office, Photoshop, and Premiere.Many hobyist build their own PC’s and they need a license to install Windows. Instead of purchasing one, they use generators, cracks, etc. to bypass the activation.Photoshop is the top tool used for graphic and image editing, for good reason. Because of it’s popularity and high cost, it is pirated quite often. Adobe has also moved to a subscription model to reach an audience who can’t afford to fork over hundreds of dollars all at once. This means that the older versions, prior to the subscription model are still used in by software pirates.WinRAR is an interesting one, personally I’ve been ok with free tools for file archiving so I’m not sure why someone would feel the need to pirate this application. Maybe it’s for commercial use or they want to support the developer, I’m not cetain.FL studio and Ableton are digital audio tools for creating music. Hobby music creators are likely the ones who favor pirating expensive software like Ableton for music creation.One way companies can help prevent being on the list of most pirated software is to offer adequate trial periods. Some companies do not offer trials at all, so how is a user to know if they like the software and if it serves their purpose? Another tactic would be to release a limited version that offer some capability, enough to get a feel for what is offered and how it works.Subscription models aren’t all terrible either. A trial period could be offered for those as well, such as the common 7 day trials we see across many products. Some users feel better about paying a smaller monthly fee over a large yearly or one-time fee.We also can’t ignore the fact that some companies do not really care about pirated versions at all. The amount they make from legitimate purchases covers their costs and then some. A few pirates don’t hurt their bottom line so they let it be.One thing for sure, the most pirated software list doesn’t contain application from small software vendors. These are big names that have been around a long time. While illegal copies may not hurt them, it will the smaller guys. If there is an alternative that suits your needs that is made by a small vendor, considering purchasing from them. Even better, support open source software alternatives as well. For each big name, there is probably a free and open-source version that offers a similar experience.What are your thoughts on this list? What are your favorite alternatives? Let me know in the comments.Filed under: Random Thoughts - @ October 13, 2022 4:18 pmTags: pirated software, top 10 | Software Applications |
Disruptive technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR), have created new jobs that did not exist a decade back. Going ahead, some of these will cease to exist and new ones will take their place, as the wheel of innovation rolls on.
According to a 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) report, more than 75 percent of companies are looking to adopt newer technologies including big data, cloud computing, and AI in the next five years. “Organisations today estimate that 34 percent of all business-related tasks are performed by machines, with the remaining 66 percent performed by humans,’’ the report said, adding that companies predict that about 42 percent of business tasks will be automated by 2027.
However, while it is true that innovation will eliminate certain jobs (or reduce the required headcount for the same), it is also true that it will lead to the evolution of other roles.
Below are some of these.
Prompt engineers
Prompt engineers work on developing and improving the capabilities of natural language processing (NLP) models like GPT-3.5. They focus on creating algorithms and fine-tuning models to generate coherent and contextually relevant text in response to prompts or queries.
Such engineers are considered niche talent and are in huge demand. According to data from Xpheno, a specialist staffing company, India’s active Generative AI talent pool grew 54 percent over the last 12 months, the highest among all countries, including the US and Germany.
Social media influencer
Social media influencers create content on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to engage and grow a dedicated following. They leverage their influence to promote products, services, or causes, and often collaborate with brands for sponsored content.
With the rise in internet users, some influencers have now virtually become like brand ambassadors, earning crores by promoting a company’s products online.
For instance, Instagram influencers are paid depending on the country, sponsor, and number of followers they have. Influencers with about 10,000 followers make around $88 per post (global average), which can go up to $200 per post if they have about 1 lakh followers, as per media firm Influencer Marketing Hub.
AR / VR developer
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) developers create immersive digital experiences by developing software applications and environments. They work on games, simulations, training programs, and other applications that use AR and VR to provide users with interactive, three-dimensional experiences.
The metaverse, which depends on AR / VR, has already gained prominence with major brands present in the space. Some of the notable examples of the use of the metaverse include Reactland by Nike, MagicBand+ by Disney, Mobility Adventure by Hyundai Motor Company, and Gucci Garden by Gucci, among others.
Data protection officers
Data Protection Officers (DPOs) are responsible for ensuring an organisation's compliance with data protection and privacy regulations, such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. They manage a company’s data privacy policies, conduct risk assessments, and oversee data security measures to protect sensitive information.
India has witnessed a substantial 21 percent growth in the supply of DPOs over the past two years, while the demand for DPOs has surged by 32 percent in that time, according to data put together for Moneycontrol by job portal foundit.
Drone operator
Drone operators are responsible for operating unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Drones are used for various purposes, including aerial photography, surveying, surveillance, and even package delivery. Their tasks may involve piloting the drone, maintaining it, and ensuring safety and compliance with regulations.
They are in huge demand in both major firms and startups. For instance, e-commerce giant Amazon hires drone operators for its Prime Air delivery service. In India, 20 percent — a majority — of the open job profiles in the industry are for drone pilots, according to staffing firm NLB Services.
Blockchain expert
Blockchain experts are specialists in distributed ledger technology (DLT). They design, develop, and maintain blockchain networks and applications. Their expertise ensures the security, transparency, and functionality of blockchain-based systems, often used in finance, supply chain management, and more.
Last year, job portal Indeed noticed that job postings for cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFTs had grown 804 percent between April 2020 and April 2022. The report showed a staggering acceleration of 315 percent in market demand in 2022.
Telemedicine doctor
Telemedicine doctors provide medical consultation and treatment to patients remotely, typically through video calls or other technologies. Telemedicine doctors play a crucial role in expanding healthcare access, especially in remote or underserved areas. They must be proficient in using telemedicine platforms and maintaining accurate medical records.
Telemedicine has seen significant growth in India, especially after the Covid pandemic, which accelerated the adoption of remote healthcare services. Telemedicine doctors are in high demand as they help address the healthcare needs of a large and geographically diverse population.
AI ethics officer
AI ethics is a set of guidelines that inform the design and outcome of AI tools, as human beings come with all sorts of cognitive biases, such as recency and confirmation bias. These inherent biases can seep into the data we choose to train AI systems, the algorithm, etc.
AI ethics officers are responsible for ensuring that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are developed and deployed in an ethical and responsible manner. Their key responsibilities include assessing the ethical implications of AI systems and identifying and mitigating biases in AI algorithms, among others.
The demand for AI ethics officers in India has been growing steadily as AI and machine learning technologies become more integrated across sectors, including finance, healthcare, and e-commerce. | Software Applications |
February 09, 2023
Desktop vs Cloud Data Modeling Tools? When it comes to choosing a data modeling tool for your project, the question of desktop or cloud data modeling tools is always on the table. What are the benefits of each, and why should you choose one over the other?
As you may already know, there are two main types of data modeling tools: desktop tools and cloud tools. In this article, we will compare these two options, outlining their benefits and inconveniences, and help you choose the right one for your needs.
Data modeling involves creating a visual representation of data objects and their relationships, which serves as a blueprint for designing a database that meets the needs of an organization and its users. This process includes defining data structures and specifying the rules that govern how data can be stored, processed, and accessed. The end result is a clear and concise model that ensures the database is properly organized, efficient, secure, and supports the users' needs.
The benefits of data modeling include:
|Desktop tools||Cloud tools|
|Performance||✅||❌|
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Desktop data modeling tools are software applications that are installed on a local computer or server. They typically provide a wide range of modeling techniques and functionalities, including entity-relationship diagrams, class diagrams, and data flow diagrams.
Some of the benefits of desktop data modeling tools include:
However, desktop data modeling tools also have some inconveniences. Some of these include:
Cloud data modeling tools, on the other hand, are web-based applications that are hosted on remote servers. They allow you to access your data from any location with an internet connection.
Some of the benefits of cloud data modeling tools include:
However, cloud data modeling tools also have some inconveniences. Some of these include:
Choosing between desktop and cloud data modeling tools can be a difficult decision as both options have their unique benefits and drawbacks. It's important to consider your specific needs and constraints to make the best choice. Factors to consider include:
There are several reasons to choose ERBuilder, a well-known desktop data modeling tool, and the following are the top seven among them:
In conclusion, choosing between desktop and cloud data modeling tools requires careful consideration of several factors, including data size and complexity, security concerns, accessibility, cost, and scalability. While desktop data modeling tools may offer better performance for large and complex data sets, cloud data modeling tools provide greater accessibility and scalability. Ultimately, the choice between a desktop or cloud data modeling tool will depend on your specific needs and constraints. It is important to weigh the pros and cons of each option and to consider the impact on your organization before making a decision. By considering these factors and evaluating your specific needs, you can make an informed choice that will ensure your data modeling tool meets the needs of your organization and supports your long-term goals.
ERBuilder is a GUI data modeling tool that allows you to visualize, design, and model databases by using entity relationship diagrams and automatically generates the most popular SQL databases. Generate and share the data Model documentation with your team. Optimize your data model by using advanced features such as test data generation, schema comparison, and schema synchronization.
Subscribe to our email newsletter today to receive updates of the latest news, tutorials and special offers! | Software Applications |
Oct 11 (Reuters) - OpenAI plans to introduce major updates for developers next month to make it cheaper and faster to build software applications based on its artificial intelligence models, as the ChatGPT maker tries to court more companies to use its technology, sources briefed on the plans told Reuters.
The updates include the addition of memory storage to its developer tools for using AI models. This could theoretically slash costs for application makers by as much as 20-times, addressing a major concern for partners whose cost of using OpenAI’s powerful models could pile up quickly, as they try to build sustainable businesses by developing and selling AI software.
The company also plans to unveil new tools such as vision capabilities that will enable developers to build applications with the ability to analyze images and describe them, with potential use cases in fields from entertainment to medicine.
The new features mark the company's ambition to expand beyond a consumer sensation into one also offering a hit developer platform, as its Chief Executive Sam Altman has envisioned. The company toiled in relative obscurity outside of the tech industry as a non-profit co-founded by Elon Musk and Altman in 2015. Musk doesn't currently own a stake in the company.
The new features are expected to be rolled out at OpenAI’s first-ever developer conference in San Francisco on November 6, sources said. They are designed to encourage companies to use OpenAI’s technology to build AI-powered chatbots and autonomous agents that can perform tasks without human intervention, said sources, who asked not to be named for discussing the company's private plans.
OpenAI declined to comment.
The company burst onto the scene last November when it launched ChatGPT, enticing hundreds of millions of people to try out the chatbot that responded to questions and commands in human-like ways, turning it into one of the world’s fastest growing consumer applications.
OpenAI has high hopes for sales growth. As Reuters first reported last December, OpenAI executives expected to close this year with $200 million in revenue and $1 billion by 2024.
More recently, the company has faced some challenges courting outsiders to build businesses using its technology. Making OpenAI indispensable to other companies building apps is among the most important strategic objectives for Altman.
He has met with developers, expressing his desire to build a new ecosystem based on OpenAI’s models, which is now baked into myriad applications, from DoorDash to writing assistant Jasper.
The planned release of the so-called stateful API (Application Program Interface) will make it cheaper for companies to create applications by remembering the conversation history of inquiries. This could dramatically reduce the amount of usage developers need to pay for. Currently, processing a one-page document using GPT-4 could cost 10 cents, depending on the length and complexity of the input and output, according to pricing on OpenAI’s website.
Another update, vision API, would allow people to build software that can analyze images, weeks after the feature became available for ChatGPT users. Giving developers this tool also marks an important step of OpenAI rolling out so-called multi-modal capabilities, which process and generate different types of media besides text, such as images, audio and video.
KEEPING DEVELOPERS HAPPY
These releases are designed to attract more developers to pay to access OpenAI’s model to build their own AI software for a variety of uses, such as writing assistants or customer service bots.
Investors have poured over $20 billion this year into AI startups, many of which rely on OpenAI or another foundation model company's technology, according to PitchBook data.
But investors are worried about these startups' reliance on companies like OpenAI or Google because this could make them vulnerable to being replicated by rivals or by the bigger companies themselves through product updates.
Meanwhile, startups are also trying to diversify the types of models they use, experimenting with OpenAI competitors and open-source options such as Meta's (META.O) Llama. That makes it important for OpenAI to distinguish itself from deep-pocketed rivals like Google (GOOGL.O).
Keeping developers happy has been a major focus for OpenAI, these sources told Reuters. While ChatGPT has been wildly successful among consumers, OpenAI's ambition to win over other companies has been less smooth.
Earlier this year, the company rushed to release ChatGPT plugins, add-on tools that allow developers to create applications within ChatGPT. OpenAI hoped that plugins would be its equivalent of Apple’s iOS App Store, gaining an advantage over rival chatbots like Google’s Bard.
Developers whose plugins are in the top 30 or so “popular” category described an initial burst of hype, followed by a steep drop-off in interest. The popular Scholar AI plugin had about 7,000 users a day as of late August, estimated its developer Lakshya Bakshi. ChatGPT attracts about 180 million monthly active users.
Altman has publicly acknowledged there is more work to do. Earlier this year, Altman admitted to a group of developers in London that plugins have not gained market traction.
Read Next
Reporting by Krystal Hu and Anna Tong in San Francisco Editing by Kenneth Li and Nick Zieminski
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Software Applications |
Palo Alto provides integrated internet security solutions for enterprise customers. The company's solutions are based on its 'next-generation' firewall and security platform, and also include software applications for various enterprise security needs. The company's founders include current Chief Technology Officer Nir Zuk, formerly of Checkpoint Software. The company shipped its first products in 2009 and completed its IPO in July 2012 at an initial share price of $42. Palo Alto executed a 3-for-1 stock split on September 13, 2022 through a two-share stock dividend. About 35% of the company's revenue is generated outside the U.S.
Joseph F. Bonner, CFASenior Analyst: Communication Services & Technology | Software Applications |
The multiplying populations and increased demand have made it necessary for production firms to work on their potential waiting periods for individual products. So does that mean companies are hiring extra laborers? Coming up with multiple warehouses? Or are they thinking of limiting their variety of goods to be able to fasten up the production of one particular choice in line? News Flash! Nothing like that is happening here. Instead, thank God, you have technology on the save. Have you heard of rapid prototyping based on 3D CAD models?
A Detailed Look Into Rapid Prototyping
In rapid prototyping, you have access to the right technology to design and create an output of anything to visually or physically evaluate the features. In other words, it also stands for the fast fabrication of the physical parts based on 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) methodology. The prototype is completed using the 3D printing technique. Also, you have the prototypes differentiated into high-fidelity and low-fidelity. In the case of the former, the proposed finished product is an exact match of the design, while in the latter, you have a marked difference between the design and the final product.
How Does Rapid Prototyping Work? Real Industry Applications
In the process of rapid prototyping, you have multiple manufacturing technologies involved. The list includes layered additive manufacturing, high-speed molding, casting, extruding, and machining.
Following the basic steps, you create a CAD model and convert the design into STL (Standard Tessellation Language) format to speed up production. The STL depicts a three-dimensional surface geometry free of color, texture, and other CAD features. Finally, it’s time to introduce them to the prototyping machine. Here the database slices the STL model into multiple layers based on the build technique and required accuracy. Once the first layer is complete, the machine starts with the second layer and continues until the process is complete. Because most machines are autonomous, they require less human indulgence and are also great at speed.
Coming to the real industrial applications of prototype modeling technology, it has made reliable impacts in architecture, medicine, archaeology, mechanic, and aerospace in the recent past.
Rapid Prototyping And The Proposed Theory Of Creating 3D Model Car Steering Wheel
As already discussed, the ultimate milestone for companies today is to shorten the waiting period and fulfill the market demands within no time. Also, they need to be mindful of the customer’s unique taste. Help the leads choose from various designs and styles to stand out. And as exciting as it sounds, rapid prototyping technology has a crucial role in the process overall.
Recently, a team of researchers has proposed using the rapid prototyping technique in business. They wanted to create a 3D virtual model of the steering wheel of a car and then turn it into reality with an assembled real-size spatial model of the same.
The team went on to divide the entire process into two separate phases.
- The preparatory phase of designing the steering wheel
- The virtual modeling phase
The Preparatory Phase
The preparatory phase in rapid prototyping came loaded with multiple sub-goals. The main work here was all about finalizing theoretical knowledge. Moreover, it also includes the imaginational perspective of the designer in terms of what will go into the steering wheels. The team focused on creating a production schedule for steering wheels without an airbag or multifunctional technology. In this, they did find how to include the CAD-based rapid prototyping technique to open up new possibilities and upscale the desirable virtual 3D models.
The Virtual Modelling Phase
In the virtual modeling phase, the researchers went on to model the different parts of the steering wheel. They came up with an assembly of seven parts in varying colors. The entire line was divided into four groups. Where one group was bi-color, and the other three were monochrome. As part of this phase, the researchers also explained the various dimensional characteristics, software applications, and number of assembly members required in each production process.
Overall, it was a comprehensive experience with the outputs according to the various research goals. If applied to real-life scenarios, this will surely fast forward the production schedule. | Software Applications |
An IBM Quantum Computer Will Soon Pass the 1,000-Qubit Mark
The Condor processor is just one quantum-computing advance slated for 2023
IBM’s Condor, the world’s first universal quantum computer with more than 1,000 qubits, is set to debut in 2023. The year is also expected to see IBM launch Heron, the first of a new flock of modular quantum processors that the company says may help it produce quantum computers with more than 4,000 qubits by 2025.
This article is part of our special report Top Tech 2023.
While quantum computers can, in theory, quickly find answers to problems that classical computers would take eons to solve, today’s quantum hardware is still short on qubits, limiting its usefulness. Entanglement and other quantum states necessary for quantum computation are infamously fragile, being susceptible to heat and other disturbances, which makes scaling up the number of qubits a huge technical challenge.
Nevertheless, IBM has steadily increased its qubit numbers. In 2016, it put the first quantum computer in the cloud anyone to experiment with—a device with 5 qubits, each a superconducting circuit cooled to near absolute zero. In 2019, the company created the 27-qubit Falcon; in 2020, the 65-qubit Hummingbird; in 2021, the 127-qubit Eagle, the first quantum processor with more than 100 qubits; and in 2022, the 433-qubit Osprey.
IBM expects to build quantum computers of increasing complexity over the next few years, starting with those that use the Condor processor or multiple Heron processors in parallel.Carl De Torres/IBM
Other quantum computers have more qubits than does IBM’s 1,121-qubit Condor processor—for instance, D-Wave Systems unveiled a 5,000-qubit system in 2020. But D-Wave’s computers are specialized machines for solving optimization problems, whereas Condor will be the world’s largest general-purpose quantum processor.
“A thousand qubits really pushes the envelope in terms of what we can really integrate,” says Jerry Chow, IBM’s director of quantum infrastructure. By separating the wires and other components needed for readout and control onto their own layers, a strategy that began with Eagle, the researchers say they can better protect qubits from disruption and incorporate larger numbers of them. “As we scale upwards, we’re learning design rules like ‘This can go over this; this can’t go over this; this space can be used for this task,’” Chow says.
Other quantum computers with more qubits exist, but Condor will be the world’s largest general-purpose quantum processor.
With only 133 qubits, Heron, the other quantum processor IBM plans for 2023, may seem modest compared with Condor. But IBM says its upgraded architecture and modular design herald a new strategy for developing powerful quantum computers. Whereas Condor uses a fixed-coupling architecture to connect its qubits, Heron will use a tunable-coupling architecture, which adds Josephson junctions between the superconducting loops that carry the qubits. This strategy reduces crosstalk between qubits, boosting processing speed and reducing errors. (Google is already using such an architecture with its 53-qubit Sycamore processor.)
In addition, Heron processors are designed for real-time classical communication with one another. The classical nature of these links means their qubits cannot entangle across Heron chips for the kind of boosts in computing power for which quantum processors are known. Still, these classical links enable “ circuit knitting” techniques in which quantum computers can get assistance from classical computers.
For example, using a technique known as “ entanglement forging,” IBM researchers found they could simulate quantum systems such as molecules using only half as many qubits as is typically needed. This approach divides a quantum system into two halves, models each half separately on a quantum computer, and then uses classical computing to calculate the entanglement between both halves and knit the models together.
IBM Quantum State of the Union 2022
While these classical links between processors are helpful, IBM intends eventually to replace them. In 2024, the company aims to launch Crossbill, a 408-qubit processor made from three microchips coupled together by short-range quantum communication links, and Flamingo, a 462-qubit module it plans on uniting by roughly 1-meter-long quantum communication links into a 1,386-qubit system. If these experiments in connectivity succeed, IBM aims to unveil its 1,386-qubit Kookaburra module in 2025, with short- and long-range quantum communication links combining three such modules into a 4,158-qubit system.
IBM’s methodical strategy of “aiming at step-by-step improvements is very reasonable, and it will likely lead to success over the long term,” says Franco Nori, chief scientist at the Theoretical Quantum Physics Laboratory at the Riken research institute in Japan.
IBM’s quantum leaps in software
In 2023, IBM also plans to improve its core software to help developers use quantum and classical computing in unison over the cloud. “We’re laying the groundwork for what a quantum-centric supercomputer looks like,” Chow says. “We don’t see quantum processors as fully integrated but as loosely aggregated.” This kind of framework will grant the flexibility needed to accommodate the constant upgrades that quantum hardware and software will likely experience, he explains.
In 2023, IBM plans to begin prototyping quantum software applications. By 2025, the company expects to introduce such applications in machine learning, optimization problems, the natural sciences, and beyond.
Researchers hope ultimately to use quantum error correction to compensate for the mistakes quantum processors are prone to make. These schemes spread quantum data across redundant qubits, requiring multiple physical qubits for each single useful logical qubit. Instead, IBM plans to incorporate error-mitigation schemes into its platform starting in 2024, to prevent these mistakes in the first place. But even if wrangling errors ends up demanding many more qubits, IBM should be in a good position with the likes of its 1,121-qubit Condor.
This article appears in the January 2023 print issue as “IBM’s Quantum Leap .”
Top Tech 2023
Preview exciting technical developments for the coming year.
Fortescue will need more electricity-generating capacity than France.
Pathfinder 1 could herald a new era for zeppelins
Blue microLEDs bring optical fiber to the processor.
Opener’s BlackFly is a pulp-fiction fever dream with wings.
Its partnership with Geely aims at full self-driving mode.
The power plants could also make weapons-grade plutonium.
Lasers should be cheap enough to use against drones.
What Worldcoin’s killer app will be is not yet clear.
The company’s Condor chip will boast more than 1,000 qubits.
Vagus-nerve stimulation promises to help treat autoimmune disorders.
New satellites can connect directly to your phone.
The E.U.’s first exascale supercomputer will be built in Germany.
A dozen more tech milestones to watch for in 2023.
- Quantum Error Correction - IEEE Spectrum ›
- IBM Unveils 433-Qubit Osprey Chip ›
- IBM’s Target: a 4,000-Qubit Processor by 2025 ›
- None › | Software Applications |
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Introduction
Diabetes is one of the most widespread and fatal chronic diseases that harm the entire body system. The body of a diabetic patient has a high level of blood sugar (Lyngdoh et al., 2021). A person with a chronic illness has a condition that lasts longer and has ongoing consequences. One of the most significant disadvantages of chronic disorders is that they have a detrimental impact on people's standard of living. It is one of the most dangerous infections that may be discovered worldwide. This chronic illness costs the lives of adults all over the world.(Ahmed et al., 2021; Lai et al., 2019). Chronic diseases have a monetary burden attached to them and cost a lot of money for governments and people. As we all know, the operation cost is high and not every family can afford it. Two factors can cause diabetes: (1) the pancreas produces insufficient insulin, or (2) the body produces insufficient insulin. Only 5–10% of people with diabetes have this type of disease (Type-1) or (2). The produced insulin does not affect the cells (Type-2). Insulin is the hormone that controls the uptake of glucose from the bloodstream into most cells (muscles and fat cells). If there isn't enough insulin, glucose won't have the same effect as it usually does, and glucose won't be absorbed by the body cells that need it (Deberneh & Kim, 2021).
Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. It requires detection and diagnosis at an early stage. Diagnosis of diabetes and interpretation of diabetes data is a significant categorization issue (Deberneh & Kim, 2021; Saeedi et al., 2019). Diabetes also afflicted approximately 463 million people aged 20 to 79 in 2019. (International Diabetes Federation-IDF) (Gulshan et al., 2016). Seventy-nine percent of the adult population live in low- and middle-income countries. According to estimates (IDF), approximately 700 million people will have diabetes by 2045 (Soni & Varma, n.d.). Every year, the number of instances grows, and the number of active cases continues to rise. Diabetes has become one of the most severe and rapid diseases to claim many people's lives worldwide, so it is essential to be concerned (Nayak & Pandi, 2021; Perveen et al., 2016). According to research, 70% of people in India suffer from this widespread disease, and 25% die due to early ignorance. The primary motivation for developing this project is so that a user can sit at their convenience and check their health (Vizhi & Dash, 2020; Zhou et al., 2020).
We developed the platform diabetes disease prediction by improvising a support vector machine to overcome diabetes disease in earlier stages. As we all know, in the competitive economic development environment, people are so busy making money and improving their lifestyle and future that they are not concerned about their health. The leading causes of ignorance are that they do not have time. They are so busy with their work that they neglect their health and do not go for regular body check-ups, which are essential for monitoring an individual's health to be free from any disease harmful to their body that may cost their life. People have become so preoccupied with their daily lives that they have no time to schedule appointments and consult a doctor, resulting in fatal conditions. Our diabetes prediction system helps individuals to predict the possibility of diabetes without taking more of their time. Whenever they are free from work, they can immediately check the likelihood of diabetes. They can consult the doctor for further treatment or assistance if the results are positive.
Machine learning is a kind of artificial intelligence (AI) that lets software applications become more accurate and efficient in predicting outcomes. ML algorithm uses historical data to anticipate improved output values (Kaur, 2019; Kumar et al., 2022).
Support Vector Machine, i.e., SVM, is a machine learning algorithm based on supervised learning. SVM can be used for classification and regression complications but mainly for classification problems. The main aim of the support vector machine is to find a hyperplane in n-dimensional space (where n is the total number of attributes). The dimension in the hyperplane depends on the number of attributes used (Pranto et al., 2020; Rani, 2020) | Software Applications |
For those looking for the ultimate in portability and security in their computing, there's the option of running a system straight from a USB drive you can carry around in your pocket.Plug this into a spare USB port on a Windows or macOS computer, and the flash drive acts as the storage and the software of the system while borrowing everything else—display, keyboard, processor, graphics—from the machine it's connected to.Shut down the computer, pull out the USB drive, and it's as if you were never there. It's an appealing option for those who value their privacy, as well as those who spend a lot of time moving between offices.For the purposes of this guide, we're going to take a look at Tails. It was developed as a way to avoid surveillance, censorship, advertising, and viruses, and it comes with a stack of useful, privacy-focused software applications. It's also free to use, and all you need to provide is the USB stick.We'll show you how to set up Tails in its default configuration, which gives you maximum anonymity and protection; every time you start it up, it's like you're starting up a new computer for the first time. If you'd prefer to have Tails remember your activity and hold onto files saved to the USB stick, that's possible too—the instructions are here.Setting Up TailsEtcher will help you get Tails installed.
Photograph: Etcher via David NieldTails stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System, which is a reference to how your activities are gone for good as soon as you unplug the USB drive from the computer it's attached to and move on. It's based on the Debian Linux distribution, and it should work just fine with most computers from the last decade or so.To get this up and running, you need a USB stick with a minimum 8 GB of capacity. With that in hand, head to the Tails download page and select the operating system that you're using to set it up. Follow the instructions on the screen and you'll get a USB image file around 1 GB in size, which you'll then need to transfer to the flash drive itself.Next, you need a little utility called Etcher (you'll be directed toward it by the step-by-step installation guide on the Tails website). This takes care of putting the USB image file on the USB drive, a process that should only take a few minutes—you'll get a notification when the transfer is complete. You're then ready to start using your portable PC. When the setup has been completed, you can plug your Tails USB stick into just about any 64-bit PC with a spare port. It'll also work on Mac computers, but not those with the newest M1 series of chips (at least not yet, anyway). The computer you're connecting to should have at least 2 GB of RAM, and you should of course make sure it's not infected with any viruses or malware beforehand.Running and Using TailsThe settings dialog for Tails.
Photograph: Tails via David NieldPerhaps the trickiest part of the process we're outlining here is getting the computer you're plugging the USB stick into to boot from that USB stick (rather than the operating system on the hard drive, which will be the default behavior). But it's not all that difficult once you know how, and Tails has full instructions here and here.On Windows, open the Start menu, hold down Shift, click Power, and then click Restart. Windows closes down, and you'll see a new screen. Pick Use a device, then select the USB drive running Tails that's plugged into the computer. On a Mac, press and hold the Option key while the computer is booting up, then select the USB drive with Tails on it once a list of choices shows up on the screen.If all goes well, you should then make it into Tails. It might look a bit sparse compared to what you're used to with Windows or macOS, but that's part of its appeal. Click the drop-down menu in the top right corner to connect to a Wi-Fi network, if you need to, and you'll be able to get online through the Tor Browser. The same menu has the system settings shortcut (the icon to the lower left on the panel).Up in the top left of the interface, you'll see a drop-down menu labeled Applications, where you can get at your email client, web browser, office apps, image editor, media player, and so on. In the same corner is Places, which gives you speedy access to all of the key areas on the system, including the document and picture folders.It shouldn't take you too long to get up to speed on Tails and everything it can offer, especially if you've used one of the flavors of Linux before. When you're done with your super-private, super-safe computing, reboot the computer and you should find yourself back in the default operating system. Take out your USB stick, and there will be no trace that you were ever there.More Great WIRED Stories📩 The latest on tech, science, and more: Get our newsletters!Weighing Big Tech's promise to Black AmericaI used Facebook without the algorithm, and you can tooHow to install Android 12—and get these great featuresGames can show us how to govern the metaverseIf clouds are made of water, how do they stay in the air?👁️ Explore AI like never before with our new database💻 Upgrade your work game with our Gear team’s favorite laptops, keyboards, typing alternatives, and noise-canceling headphones | Software Applications |
Generative AI technologies are being suffused into a host of software applications aimed at businesses and consumers alike, and the financial results of all that investment are starting to show up.
A close-reading of Alphabet and Microsoft’s third-quarter results shows that new AI tech is helping some of the world’s biggest companies grow their revenues. Even better, these companies are seeing AI growing in areas that are broad enough to indicate strong market demand for software that runs off generative AI. That’s good news for the plethora of startups building in the fast-expanding space.
The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.
We’re going to cover a lot of positive news today, but the two companies’ reports yesterday engendered varying reactions from investors. Alphabet’s shares are down more than 8.5% this morning, while Microsoft’s stock is up nearly 4%.
This morning, I want to quickly parse the two tech companies’ earnings through the cloud and AI lens, and then glean what I can from their post-results conference calls. We’ll then apply all of it to startups at the end.
The demand for AI-powered tech is real
Alphabet’s revenue and net profit both beat street expectations, coming in at $76.69 billion and $1.55 per share, respectively. YouTube, a key source of advertising incomes at the search giant, also did well. However, Alphabet’s cloud revenue of $8.41 billion came in under expectations by around $20 million, CNBC reports. Investors did not like that at all.
Microsoft’s revenue and net profit also both beat street estimates, landing at $56.52 billion and $2.99 per share, respectively. Revenue from its “Intelligent Cloud” business group rose 21% year-on-year, including going up 29% at Azure, three percentage points better than analysts expected. Investors liked that a lot.
The market’s reaction to the two sets of data provides their grading, but we care about the AI-related components that went into the top-line numbers. This is due to the scale of both companies, and the various market forces that impact their growth and profitability.
For our purposes, we want to zoom in on the impact AI is having on their results to arrive at some conclusions for startup founders. Starting with Alphabet’s conference call, here are some notes that stood out: | Software Applications |
TikTok Isn't The Only China-Backed App The White House Is Worried About
The Biden administration is working with lawmakers to find ways to prevent data gathered by various Chinese social-media apps.
(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration is working with lawmakers to find ways to prevent data gathered by various Chinese social-media apps threatening national security, President Joe Biden’s commerce chief said.
“What we’re worried about is Chinese-backed companies, being on tens of millions of American phones including members of the military, and privacy concerns, data concerns, misinformation concerns doesn’t just apply to Tiktok,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in interview at Bloomberg’s Washington office on Thursday.
“There’s a number of members in the US Senate who are thinking hard about what’s the right way to protect American national security,” she said. “We will work with Congress to figure out the right way to legislate to protect America from these concerns.”
Read more: Raimondo’s Energy on China Revs Up Job Where Ross Used to Nap
Legislation authorizing President Joe Biden to ban TikTok in the US advanced through a key House committee Wednesday, as lawmakers debate the best way to address the national security threat they say is posed by the video-sharing app.
The bill from House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, was one of several China-focused measures the panel considered this week, and won approval on a party-line 24-16 vote.
Raimondo said in an interview last month that “passing a law to ban a single company is not the way to deal with this issue,” citing concerns about freedom of speech and its popularity with young voters.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., is hugely popular in the US, especially among teens. But US officials say there’s a potential security threat if the app is used for propaganda or if the Chinese government uses collected data to create profiles of Americans.
President Donald Trump in 2020 sought to ban US residents from doing business with TikTok or WeChat, an instant messaging and social media app, but those orders were blocked by federal judges who said the administration hadn’t shown those apps in particular posed a national security threat justifying a ban. Biden revoked the bans in 2021, instead directing the Commerce Department to review and take action against software applications that pose a risk to Americans’ sensitive data.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Software Applications |
Summary
During our security research we found that smart phones with Qualcomm chip secretly send personal data to Qualcomm. This data is sent without user consent, unencrypted, and even when using a Google-free Android distribution. This is possible because the Qualcomm chipset itself sends the data, circumventing any potential Android operating system setting and protection mechanisms. Affected smart phones are Sony Xperia XA2 and likely the Fairphone and many more Android phones which use popular Qualcomm chips.
Introduction
The smartphone is a device we entrust with practically all of our secrets. After all, this is the most ubiquitous device we carry with us 24 hours per day. Both Apple and Android with their App Store and Google Play Store are spying on its paying customers. As a private alternative some tech-savy people install a Google-free version of Android on their ordinary smartphone. As an example we analyzed such setup with a Sony Xperia XA2 and found that this may not protect sufficiently because hardware with firmware beneath the operating system send private information to the chip maker Qualcomm. This finding also applies to other smartphone with a Qualcomm chip such as the Fairphone.
What is a de-Googled Android phone?
A deGoogled Android phone is one that has been modified to not include any of Google’s proprietary (closed-source) apps or services. This usually involves installing a custom ROM that replaces the standard Android software with an open source Android that doesn’t come with any of Google’s apps. You can either install such an Android yourself or buy a phone that already has this done for you (e.g. NitroPhone).
Google surveillance & tracking tools are everywhere but most of this ‘evil’ is located inside the Google Play Services, which is closed-source. Millions of lines of code that include things like constantly scanning your surroundings for Bluetooth and WiFi devices, using WiFi signal triangulation, then matching the visible WiFi antennas with Google’s database of all geographic locations of all WiFi access points they collect in order to know your precise location at all times. This all works without connecting to the detected WiFi networks and even when your GPS is turned off. This method is similar to how the CIA tracked down Pablo Escobar in the 1990s but is now used on a massive scale to track every citizen around the globe.
Sample of wireless access point geolocation database www.wigle.net
To get rid of the almighty powerful Google and Apple and its 24 hour tracking & surveillance tools one approach is to use a de-Googled Android phone. As a result, your deGoogled phone will not have the Google Play Services and Google Play Store but will instead use an alternative open-source store app that offers the same apps. You can also avoid the use of a store altogether by downloading your apps (with the APK file extension) directly from the software vendor's website. This is just as you would when downloading a program to install on your PC.
Analyzing a DeGoogled Phone
In this test, we decided to try /e/OS, a de-Googled open-source version of Android that is privacy-focused and designed to give you control over your data. /e/OS claims that they do not track you and don't sell your data. Let's find out.
We installed /e/OS on a Sony Xperia XA2 smartphone. After installation, the phone boots into the /e/OS setup wizard. It requested us to turn on GPS location service, but we purposely left it off because we do not need it now.
We also didn't place a SIM-card in the phone either so it could only send and receive data over the WIFI network which we are monitoring with Wireshark. Wireshark is a professional software tool which allows us to monitor and analyze all traffic being sent over the network.
After we provided our WiFi password in the setup wizard, the router assigned our /e/OS de-Googled phone a local IP address and it started generating traffic.
The first DNS requests we see:
[2022-05-12 22:36:34] android.clients.google.com [2022-05-12 22:36:34] connectivity.ecloud.global
Surprisingly, the deGoogled phone's first connection is to google.com. According to Google, the host android.clients.google.com serves the Google Play Store for periodical device registration, location, search for apps and many other functions. This is strange because we have a deGoogled phone without the Google Play Store.
Then it connects to connectivity.ecloud.global which, according to /e/OS, replaces Android's Google server connectivity check connectivitycheck.gstatic.com. This makes us wonder. /e/OS did replace Google’s connectivity check, but did they somehow miss out to replace the Google Play Store URL?
Two seconds later the phone started communicating with:
[2022-05-12 22:36:36] izatcloud.net [2022-05-12 22:36:37] izatcloud.net
We are not aware of any company or service with the name izatcloud.net. Therefore we started searching through the /e/OS legal notice and privacy policy but found no mention of data sharing with the Izat Cloud. The /e/OS privacy policy clearly states "We do not share any individual information with anybody". We then searched through the /e/OS source-code they make available on Gitlab and we were unable to find any references to the Izat Cloud.
A quick WHOIS lookup shows us that the izatcloud.net domain belongs to a company called Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. This is interesting. Qualcomm chips are currently being used in ca. 30% of all Android devices, including Samsung and also Apple smartphones. Our test device for the /e/OS deGoogled version of Android is a Sony Xperia XA2 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor. So there we have a lead. As our /e/OS has been completely de-Googled we assume that the first connection to android.clients.google.com must also come have come directly from Qualcomm’s firmware.
Is Qualcomm spying on us?
Investigating this further we can see that the packages are sent via the HTTP protocol and are not encrypted using HTTPS, SSL or TLS. That means that anyone else on the network, including hackers, government agencies, network administrators, telecom operators, local and foreign can easily spy on us by collecting this data, store them, and establish a record history using the phone’s unique ID and serial number Qualcomm is sending over to their mysteriously called Izat Cloud.
The data sharing with Qualcomm is not being mentioned in the terms of service from Sony (the device vendor) or Android or /e/OS either. Qualcomm does this without user consent.
We believe this is against the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to collect user data without their consent and contacted Qualcomm's Legal Counsel about the matter. A few days later they answered and informed us that this data collection was in accordance with the Qualcomm Xtra privacy policy and they shared us a link to their XTRA Service Privacy Policy. So it appears to be that this Izat Cloud we never heard of is part of the XTRA Service we’ve never heard of either. We have the impression that Qualcomm likes to keep things mysterious, hence the name Izat Cloud and the XTRA Service.
Looking at the link Qualcomm sent us, the ‘XTRA Service’ privacy policy states:
“Through these software applications, we may collect location data, unique identifiers (such as a chipset serial number or international subscriber ID), data about the applications installed and/or running on the device, configuration data such as the make, model, and wireless carrier, the operating system and version data, software build data, and data about the performance of the device such as performance of the chipset, battery use, and thermal data.
We may also obtain personal data from third party sources such as data brokers, social networks, other partners, or public sources.”
They do not mention IP address but we assume they collect that as well. After our research was completed they’ve updated the privacy policy and now added that they do also collect the device's IP address. They also added the information that they store this data for 90 days for ‘quality purposes’.
To clarify, here a list of the data Qualcomm may collect from your phone according to their privacy policy:
- Unique ID
- Chipset name
- Chipset serial number
- XTRA software version
- Mobile country code
- Mobile network code (allowing identification of country and wireless operator)
- Type of operating system and version
- Device make and model
- Time since the last boot of the application processor and modem
- List of the software on the device
- IP address
Digging a little deeper we’ll find out that the ‘XTRA Service’ from Qualcomm provides Assisted GPS (A-GPS) and helps provide accurate satellite positions to a mobile device.
What is Assisted GPS (A-GPS), and why do I need it?
GPS was initially developed exclusively for military usage, guiding planes, personnel, and bombs. Receivers were typically positioned in open regions with line-of-sight access to satellites. Since GPS became available for commercial usage, however, new applications have increased the system's requirements.
These new uses required GPS signals to penetrate overhead obstructions, such as trees and roofs. Thus, the “assisted GPS” or A-GPS solution was born. With A-GPS the phone downloads various files containing orbits and statuses of satellites with the approximate GPS satellite locations for the next 7 days to help quickly determine phone’s location.
The Covert Operating System
The Qualcomm’s XTRA service is not part of /e/OS or Android but runs directly from the Qualcomm firmware which they call AMSS. What happened is that in addition to the user-facing operating system (Android, iOS) and the Linux kernel, the smartphone incorporates an additional, low level firmware or blobware. This covert operating system operates on the broadband processor (modem) and manages the real-time communication with the cell towers.
During operation, the covert operating system (AMSS) has complete control over the hardware, microphone and camera. The Linux kernel and deGoogled /e/OS end-user operating system function as a slave on top of the hidden AMSS operating system.
The consequences are that even with a deGoogled device we still have no full control on our privacy and which personal identifiable information (PII) is being shared because of this closed-source blobware underneath that is sharing our private data.
Are other smartphones affected?
Another popular option which is frequently chosen for its privacy is the Fairphone. The Dutch company produces excellent phones allowing users to maintain the phone and replace parts themselves when broken. In spite of its reputation for bolstering users' privacy, all Fairphone models contain a Qualcomm chip probably loaded with the AMSS blobware. The Fairphone has therefor the same issue with sharing of personal data with the Qualcomm XTRA Service. Although not tested, we suspect that the same privacy issues affect many other choices of smartphone brands that use Qualcomm processors, including so called encrypted phones or crypto phones.
NitroPhone is secure
Nitrokey’s NitroPhone does not contain the Qualcomm chipset and our tests confirm that when GPS is turned-off, no requests for A-GPS are being made. When GPS is turned-on, to prevent Google from obtaining and storing your IP address, the NitroPhone's GrapheneOS contacts and downloads the A-GPS files from google.psds.grapheneos.org, a proxy server supplied by GrapheneOS to protect users’ privacy. And unlike Qualcomm, GrapheneOS does not share any personal information with the GrapheneOS proxy servers, nor with Google or Qualcomm.
Furthermore, GrapheneOS allows you to disable the feature to request A-GPS files (opt-out) or, if you prefer, to use Android’s standard servers agnss.goog. At the moment, neither /e/OS, Lineage, or Sailfish OS nor any other phone we could find, supports this feature or provides this level of freedom.
Conclusion
Qualcomm’s proprietary firmware is not only downloading some files to our phone to help establish the GPS location faster, but also uploads our personal data, such as the devices’ unique ID, our country code (Germany in this case), our cellphone operator code (allowing identification of country and mobile operator), our operating system and version and a list of software on the device. This creates a completely unique signature of us enabling behavioral tracking and decreasing user’s privacy significantly. No matter if we have GPS turned-off.
The fact that Qualcomm collects a large amount of sensitive data and transmits it via the insecure and outdated HTTP protocol shows us that they do not care about users’ privacy and security. This doesn’t require to speculate of Qualcomm collaborating with various government spy agencies, but also creates a risk when the traffic is potentially intercepted also by dictators and other suppressive governments not even requiring a collaboration with Qualcomm. Not only drones make frequent use of location information to target people. There are cases where people’s kidnappings and/or assassinations have been facilitated by the use of the victims location information. A most recent example is Iran where protesters get arrested because of their smartphone location tracking. This even doesn’t require tapping the phone. The cleartext traffic is also hotbed for data brokers which sell people’s data (e.g. shopping centers).
Affected users could try blocking the Qualcomm XTRA Service using a DNS-over-TLS cloud-based block service, or re-route this traffic yourself to the proxy server from GrapheneOS, but this requires technical expertise and does not provide the same level of security as the NitroPhone.
Author
Paul Privacy is an independent security researcher with a focus on privacy and helping others to obtain privacy on their phones and computers. Because privacy is cool. And being spied on is NOT cool. Be private. Be Cool. For a free consult you can contact me at: [email protected] or follow me on Twitter at @PaulPrivacyCool | Software Applications |
Original press release here
Under the new partnership, Replit developers will get access to Google Cloud infrastructure, services, and foundation models via Ghostwriter, Replit's software development AI, while Google Cloud and Workspace developers will get access to Replit’s collaborative code editing platform.
The collaboration will accelerate the creation of generative AI applications and underscores Google Cloud's commitment to nurturing the most open ecosystem for generative AI. For Replit, already 20 million developers strong, this partnership with Google Cloud is its next move in realizing its mission to empower the next 1 billion software creators.
Coding with AI
AI is changing software development. For developers using Replit’s Ghostwriter coding AI, more than 30% of their code is generated by Ghostwriter. The newest LLM chat apps can generate code for full programs with simple natural language prompts, enabling the creation of full websites with no coding experience in minutes.
But even powerful LLMs can’t run code themselves. Standalone chat LLMs do not have a project’s context. They require developers to copy and paste code from where they work to the chat app. This leads to inefficient switching of tabs and requires additional prompting. Even then, the separate chat app won’t have the richness of knowing where in the coding tool the developer can achieve their goal and run their program.
Until LLMs are brought into the integrated development environment itself (IDE), we aren’t yet at the future that Replit CEO Amjad Masad has laid out, where AI will help:
- Make non-developers into developers, turning natural language to code
- Turn software engineers to hyper-productive “10X engineers”
- Make 10X engineers 1000X engineers, coding complex-architected software in 1/1000th of the time.
So what’s next? How can developers get the full power of LLMs, end to end … fast? Enter Replit, powered by Google Cloud infrastructure and foundation models under this partnership.
From Idea to Live App in Seconds on Replit
At more than 20 million developers and more than 240 million repls (projects) created, Replit is one of the fastest-growing developer platforms. Replit’s cloud-based platform is unique as a place for AI:
- Deploy what the AI helped build: Developers can code in any language from their browser quickly because Replit caches more than 10 terabytes of packages. Powered by Google Cloud Platform, Replit developers can deploy and scale their applications with a few clicks and get Google Cloud’s leading reliability, security, and other benefits.
- AI built-in: Replit built its initial Ghostwriter coding AI agent last year. Since then, Replit has built and deployed a fully conversational AI directly in the IDE that has the context of the developer’s project.
- AI that debugs in real-time: Replit’s Ghostwriter has instant debugging capabilities that proactively help solve coding errors. This is an early example of the extended power of an AI agent.
- Monetization: Replit enables developers to earn money on-platform – through Replit Bounties where they can complete software jobs for others, directly from end users with APIs to Stripe and others, or from the support of the Replit community with tips of support. Replit’s Cycles currency gives developers globally a choice on how they earn.
- Community: With millions on the platform each month, Replit developers can share runnable applications with 20M other developers instantly.
- AI on mobile: Replit’s development environment is available on iOS and Android, allowing developers to code with an AI on their smartphones and tablets from anywhere in the world. No separate deployment or compilation needed. Users can speak with Ghostwriter to quickly build a full app.
- Collaborative: Developers can share AI sessions and code with others on their teams. AI is just another collaborator.
Replit’s cloud infrastructure and AI products like Ghostwriter make it one of the fastest places to go from idea to deployed software application. Through this new partnership with Google Cloud, developers using Replit will have global access to Google Cloud infrastructure and Google’s foundation models on Vertex AI. The collaboration aims to support Google Cloud's goal of enabling companies to accelerate their development process using AI.
Partnering in AI
Last fall, Replit developed and launched Ghostwriter in three months, starting with code autocompletion and transformation. In January 2023, Replit added a conversational AI interface for generating and proactive debugging, with knowledge of the developer's files and workspace.
“Our partnership with Google Cloud on infrastructure and AI is a clear step toward our mission of bringing the next billion software creators online. AI has changed software development forever. The seamless idea-to-deployed software experience that Replit provides developers will continue to set a new bar for software creation,” said Amjad Masad, the CEO and Head of Engineering at Replit. “We’re thrilled to build this.”
“Generative AI can bring significant new capabilities to businesses and developers, including the ability to easily, safely, and scalably create new software applications and online experiences with little or no coding experience,” said June Yang, VP, Cloud AI, and Industry Solutions at Google Cloud. “Google Cloud infrastructure and foundation models in Vertex AI will power Replit’s widely-adopted platform, delivering more performance and scalability to millions of developers around the world.”
About Replit
At +20M developers, Replit is one of the fastest-growing developer platforms globally. Replit offers AI-assisted cloud-native software development. With millions of pre-fetched package files and a seamless run-to-live experience, Replit enables developers to spin up any kind of development environment to a full live app in seconds.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud accelerates every organization's ability to digitally transform its business. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems. | Software Applications |
I wasn't kidding when I told you that GM is going all-in on Ultium, the battery technology behind the company's electrification efforts, not to mention an entire generation of Chevy and GMC EVs. On Tuesday, the automaker announced that it is expanding its portfolio into energy management services — think big stationary batteries to store rooftop-generated solar power on a home or business — with its new spin-off business, GM Energy.
The new venture will be comprised of three smaller ones: Ultium Home, Ultium Commercial and Ultium Charge 360, offering "solutions ranging from bi-directional charging, vehicle-to home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications, to stationary storage, solar products, software applications, cloud management tools, microgrid solutions, hydrogen fuel cells and more," according to GM's announcement on Tuesday.
The new company will be partnering with a number of established firms and utilities in the energy industry. For example, GM will be working with SunPower to develop and market a integrated home energy storage system that incorporates an electric vehicle with solar panels and battery banks to enable easy Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) power transfers. GM plans to have that home energy system ready for sale alongside the release of the EV Silverado next fall, 2023.
Additionally, GM Energy has partnered with California's Pacific Gas and Electric utility for another V2H pilot program that will let you run your household appliances off of your EV's battery during blackouts. Eventually, the company plans to add V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) capabilities, which will allow you to sell excess energy produced by the solar panels back to your local utility.
For businesses, Ultium Commercial may help ease the transition to an electrified fleet. Many such existing GM customers, "have fleets of vehicles are looking to electrify their fleets, but aren't really aware of how to set up the charging infrastructure, how to manage their energy," Mark Bole, vice president and Head of V2X Battery Solutions at GM said during an embargoed press briefing last week. "And so, not only do we come in as a hardware and software provider, but in a sense, really, as a strategic advisor for these commercial customers."
"There are more power failures in the US than any other country in the industrialized world," Travis Hester, vice president of GM EV Growth Operations, added. "There were 25,000 blackouts in California alone last year, over 15 and a half billion dollars of lost commerce, just in California. So when you look at the numbers, there is a desire — and we're seeing it very clearly from commercial customers reaching out to us and asking us for assistance to deal with some of these problems."
GM is also transferring its public charging station network, Ultium Charge 360, over to GM Energy. Charge 360 launched in 2021 in Washington, Florida and California. GM partnered with Blink Charging, ChargePoint, EV Connect, EVgo, FLO, Greenlots and SemaConnect to streamline their collective 60,000-plug network of 350 kW Level 3 DC fast chargers and provide "more seamless access" to drivers. The automaker built upon that network this past July, announcing a 500-station "coast-to-coast" expansion in partnership with EVGo. In all, GM hopes to have 2,700 such EV fast charging stations across the US and Canada under its Ultium Charge 360 banner by 2025. All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing. | Software Applications |
Subsets and Splits