Will IOC back track federation's Solomonic decision to exclude Russia but allow some Russian athletes in Rio?

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Will IOC back track federation's Solomonic decision to exclude Russia but allow some Russian athletes in Rio?

A baker’s dozen thoughts about the international track and field federation council’s unanimous and quasi-Solomonic Friday decision to extend its ban on Russian athletes in that sport through the 2016 Olympics yet leave a path for some to compete in those Rio Summer Games:

1.  The ultimate resolution of this issue was always going to be up to the International Olympic Committee, even if the Olympic Charter leaves eligibility issues up to each sport’s international federation. 

2.  In a Tuesday meeting, the IOC will discuss “collective responsibility and individual justice.”  Translated, that means IOC President Thomas Bach must weigh how much he is willing to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin, a great financial friend of the Olympics, against the avalanche of criticism that would follow a IOC action to water down the international track federation (IAAF) ruling.

And more....

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Gailhaguet, once banned from sport, as skating federation boss? Mon Dieu!

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Gailhaguet, once banned from sport, as skating federation boss? Mon Dieu!

Some people within the figure skating world – including many fans, coaches, administrators and ex-competitors - cannot wait until Friday.

That is when the International Skating Union will conclude its biennial congress by electing a successor to Italy’s Ottavio Cinquanta, who has presided over the ISU since 1994.

Many blame Cinquanta for not having done more to halt figure skating’s precipitous decline in popularity in both North America and Europe, the recent Russian revival notwithstanding.  (If so, shouldn’t he get also some credit, even second-handedly, for the booming interest in Japan and South Korea?)

Among those critics, a favorite target is the obtuse, overly complicated New Judging System Cinquanta succeeded in getting adopted after the pairs skating imbroglio at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (where, by the way, the judges had the result right the first time, no matter how loudly Canadians whined or what behind-the-scenes dirty dealings took place in efforts to predetermine the outcome.)

Given the Salt Lake fallout, it is astonishing what might happen in Friday’s election.

The sport (and its ice cousins, short and long track speed skating) can choose as president France’s Didier Gailhaguet, linchpin of attempts to corrupt the results of the 2002 Olympic pairs and dance competitions.

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Ali: a national, international and Olympic treasure who carried the torch for us all

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It was and may always be the most indelible moment in U.S. Summer Olympic history, and it had nothing to do with competition.

It was so much bigger than that, befitting the image of the man at its center.

It was about the transformation of this country's attitude toward an Olympic champion and global icon, whose willingness to speak his mind had made him a pariah rather than a prophet in many precincts of his own land. It was a confession of and atonement for our past sins.

It was, as I described it in the Chicago Tribune, the moment at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta when Muhammad Ali lit the cauldron:

READ MY WHOLE STORY AT CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM

Becca Mann, author, Rewriting Olympic quest story of Becca Mann, swimmer

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Becca Mann in the 5-kilometer open water race at the 2013 World Championships.  (Getty Images)

Becca Mann in the 5-kilometer open water race at the 2013 World Championships.  (Getty Images)

Becca Mann found out last July she would have to make major revisions in the script that would have her swimming in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Part of that task is easy, given that no U.S. Olympic swimming hopeful could be more qualified than Mann to do such rewriting.

After all, she was a published author by age 16. Mann’s young adult fantasy novel, the 322-page “The Stolen Dragon of Quanx,” came out in October 2014. It is the first installment of her planned Eyes Trilogy.

And she has been accepted into the writing for screen and television program at the University of Southern California’s renowned School of Cinematic Arts, whose alums include Hollywood superstar writers like Melissa Rosenberg (“The Twilight Saga”), Shonda Rhimes (“Scandal”) and Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”).

The tough part is while Mann still has complete control over how “The Eyes Trilogy” will end, the plot line of her Olympic story became far less certain after she failed to make the U.S. team in open water swimming.

READ MY WHOLE STORY ON TEAMUSA.ORG

 

The Time Has Come To Make Allyson Felix The Toast Of The Sports World

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Allyson Felix after winning the 400 meters at the 2015 World Championships

Allyson Felix after winning the 400 meters at the 2015 World Championships

Bob Kersee does what he calls the bar test to assess name recognition.

Walk into a moderately crowded bar, the celebrated track and field coach says, and toss out the names Mickey Mantle, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Carl Lewis. Someone in the crowd will be able to fill you in on each of those sports superstars.

“Even if it’s only one person who knows,” Kersee said.

Now put Allyson Felix into that mix.

Kersee knows the result almost certainly will be blank stares, and that is enough to drive a man to drink.

“It’s time for Allyson to be recognized in the same way as some of the great American athletes, if not world athletes, of all time,” Kersee said.

Why should she be?

Since winning a senior national indoor title three months before her graduation from Los Angeles Baptist High School in 2003, Felix has been one of the world’s top sprinters. No woman in history has won as many world outdoor championship gold medals as her nine. No track and field athlete in the last three Olympics has won more medals than her six – four golds, two silvers.

Read the whole story at TeamUSA.org