Unless a grand compromise can be reached in the coming months, Olympic boxing is truly on the ropes from a self-inflicted knockout.
The IOC made it clear earlier this month that unless there’s an international federation to handle the sport by early 2025, boxing will not be on the program of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. If that happens, there is a strong likelihood boxing will never return to the sports program after appearing in every Olympics since 1920.
Despite being banished by the IOC last year as the sport’s recognized federation, the International Boxing Association shows no sign of remorse or willingness to go along with demands for reform. Corrupt refereeing, financial transparency and governance concerns are among the IOC’s chief worries.
Worried no longer about IBA, the IOC has left it up to the sport to find a way to organize a federation that meets its standards if it is to have any hope of remaining on the Olympic program.
In addition to addressing governance and integrity issues, the new federation must be able to stage world championships and other events for athletes to qualify for the Olympics. Since the federation was initially suspended in 2019, Olympic competition has been managed by an IOC task force. But after handling Tokyo and now Paris, IOC Pres. Thomas Bach says the organization’s patience is at an end. It’s time for boxing to put up or shut up.
Right now the situation seems bleak.
The fledgling World Boxing, formed late last year, aims to be that new federation for the Olympics. The group includes sporting powers such as the U.S., Great Britain, France and Australia, along with another two dozen national federations that abandoned the IBA following its disbarment. World Boxing is led by Boris van der Vorst, head of the Dutch Federation. He tried to challenge Kremlev for the IBA presidency but was ruled ineligible two days before the vote. Kremlev, the only candidate on the ballot, won. The federation then rejected an order from the Court of Arbitration for Sport to hold another election. Van der Vorst abandoned IBA to launch World Boxing as an IOC- worthy alternative.
While World Boxing speaks to the IOC demands with a strategic plan through the year 2028, it may be stalled in its effort to secure the backing of very many more national federations still aligned with IBA.
Boris van der Vorst speaks following his election in November 2023. (World Boxing)
Unlike the IBA, World Boxing has no money to dish out. Dozens of federations in Africa and Asia in particular depend upon funding from the IBA. Where the IBA gets that money is not exactly clear. A series of so-called Champions Night bouts in Asia and Europe is generating revenue, but probably nowhere near the $15 million or so from Tokyo and Paris TV revenues the IOC would have allocated to the federation had it not been suspended.
The animus between IBA president Umar Kremlev and Bach is deep and seemingly irreconcilable. Kremlev has hurled insults at the IOC leader and colleagues in Lausanne ever since Kremlev’s controversial election in 2023. Last year he declared the IBA would not “kiss the ass” of the IOC. In a statement last month Kremlev accused Bach and IOC staff of “lining their pockets” and maintaining personal agendas in the battle against IBA.
IBA president Umar Kremlev.
“Circus management and clown behaviour from Thomas Bach’s camp is apparent; we continue to see this with those disappointing antics, with the IOC hiding their own personal gains to the detriment of others and our boxing community as a whole. IBA remains transparent and will continue to speak up for its loyal members,” says one excerpt of the statement.
World Boxing says national federations that remain loyal to the IBA could spell the end of Olympic boxing.
“Any National Federation or NOC that continues to think its boxers will have an Olympic future elsewhere and without joining World Boxing is making a grave error that will be ruinous for the sport and hugely damaging for its boxers,” says part of the statement issued a few weeks ago when the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected IBA’s appeal of its IOC expulsion.
“This is an urgent situation and the clock is ticking. The leaders of boxing’s National Federations now have a critically important decision to make and we urge every one of them that cares about boxers and the future of the sport to apply to join and support World Boxing in its efforts to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement, before it is too late,” says the World Boxing statement.
Kremlev counters that his organization is the only one with the expertise to handle the Olympics.
“The reality and truth are that there is no alternative to the IBA as a governing body neither financially, nor in terms of organization and experience. With their statements, the ruling elite of the IOC constantly interferes in the affairs of the IBA and other international sports federations, violating the principles of its own Olympic Charter, freedom of speech and imposing its own fictitious rules,” says the IBA leader.
It would seem the gulf between the IBA, World Boxing and the IOC could not get any deeper.
“The only way to make peace is to make compromises,” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once opined.
But in the case of Olympic boxing, nobody seems ready to swallow pride and find a way to compromise for the good of the sport. At a time when sports such as mixed martial arts are growing in popularity, there’s no shortage of candidates to take the place of boxing.
Intransigence instead of compromise on the part of boxing’s leaders will only hasten the sport’s Olympic demise.
So here we are in April, the calendar becoming a bowtied referee standing over a boxer, counting down the seconds – or in this case, months – until a knockout is declared.
He’s got eight more to go before Olympic boxing is down for the count.
Results of the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in Orlando Feb. 3 will send six runners to Paris. The Olympic event is set for August 11, the penultimate day of the 2024 Games.
There were joyful winners — but they weren’t just the athletes. Organizers are buzzing about the success of the event from the host point of view.
“We could not be more pleased with the outcome of the event. Orlando delivered a fun, safe, and secure event with incredible engagement from fans, athletes, officials, and all involved,” says Jason Siegel, CEO of GO Sport, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. GO Sport has the job of bringing major sports events to the central Florida city.
Athletes say they also were pleased, praising the organization as well as the tens of thousands of spectators spread across the course. Organizers say 100,000 watched the race from the sidelines and grandstand seating at the start and finish line.
The winners in the women’s race.
Women’s division winner Fiona O’Keefe said the cheers were “absurdly loud in the city center and it was full of support the whole way.”
“It’s been great. It was a beautiful day, nice wind, not too breezy,” says second place finisher Clayton Young. He visited Orlando three times to prepare for the race but this time came with family. He says Orlando’s theme parks and attractions give them something to do while he readied to run
.
“It takes the pressure off,” he says.
Siegel says the smooth running of the race was due in large part to the work of some 1400 volunteers.
“We have an incredible team who took 281,998 steps on Saturday, which works out to around 141 miles (or 5.38 full marathons) walked by our team to make this event the best it possibly could be. We couldn’t be prouder of the effort put forward by everyone,” Siegel says.
Siegel says the success of the trials means an economic boost for the region.
GO Sports CEO Jason Siegel (Sheila Hula)
“For us, success is measured by the positive economic impact on our city, broadcast metrics on NBC and Peacock, ensuring the event was enjoyable for fans and our community, and creating a rise in tourism income during a non-peak travel season,” Siegel says.
“Local Orlando businesses were extremely pleased with the event as it helped bring in new customers and boost the economy, so we appreciate the positive feedback we’ve received from them so far,” he says.
Speaking on public radio station WMFE, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer estimates the knock on effect of the event was $15 million.
“We showed off the city in a remarkable manner,” Dyer said on the Feb. 8 edition of the program Engage, noting that the marathon trials were followed the next day by the Pro Bowl of the NFL. That game with top NFL stars playing flag football, a new sport for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 style, attracted nearly 60,000 spectators to Camping World Stadium, just outside the center of Orlando.
“We’ve become known as the premier sports destination in the country,” Dyer boasts. He says this is the fifth time Orlando has hosted the Pro Bowl. He says while not official, Orlando has become the home of the US men’s soccer team by playing many of its international matches in the city’s soccer stadium.
“We can host anything the world can bring us in terms of sports,” he says about the facilities available in Orlando and the surrounding Central Florida region. Facilities include ESPN’s Wide World of Sports as well as a sprawling convention center that plays host every year to thousands of young volleyball players competing for national championships. There will be four NCAA championships in May that GO Sport landed for Orlando.
Not everything goes Orlando’s way. It did not win a bid to be one of the US cities hosting matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The event will be held in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.
“We put forward a very aggressive bid,” Siegel says. “The field was obviously very competitive, and we were proud of our efforts and still are,” he continued, saying there are plenty of other events to seek.
“As we saw with the Marathon Trials, Olympic-style events are so exciting and just a blast to host. We are in constant communication with U.S. Olympic National Governing Bodies, and we’d love to bring more Olympic events to Orlando and celebrate our country’s best athletes,” Siegel says.
With the coming of Los Angeles as the host for the 2028 Summer Olympics, Orlando is certain to be in the marketplace for training sites for athletes from the U.S. and abroad. Expect Orlando and the Pro Bowl to become one of the signposts on the way to LA 28, the NFL heavily promoting the Olympic connection to the Games.
“Continuing to bring world-class events to Orlando is a long-term goal for us, and by successfully hosting an event of this capacity, we feel like we have positioned ourselves well for landing future events,” Siegel said.
An inevitable question for Orlando leaders this weekend as the city hosts the 2024 Olympic marathon trials is whether this could be a prelude to a bid for the big prize – a Summer Olympics in the Beautiful City.
Assuming all goes well with the race on February 3, government leaders and boosters of sport and tourism in central Florida could be thinking about how Orlando might host a Summer Olympics one day. But with 10,500 athletes from 200+ countries, the summer Games are a big leap from the 374 runners in the Olympic marathon trials. Instead of one day of competition, the Olympics mean hundreds of thousands of spectators filling venues for 17 days straight.
Florida Assets Boost Readiness
Central Florida already plays host to millions of visitors each year so Olympic sized crowds should be easy to handle. Nonetheless the trials will give Orlando the chance to see how the pieces for an Olympic-class event fit together. Security, volunteers, and transportation, along with the crowds that will line the race route, will all get the chance to shine. It will perhaps ignite dreams of something bigger.
While the idea of an Olympics in Florida may sound far-fetched, Orlando would not be the first to lodge a bid for the Games. That distinction goes to Tampa, one of a half dozen US cities at the turn-of-the-century seeking to be the US nominee to go for the 2012 Olympics eventually awarded to London.
As the world’s leading tourist destination, Orlando is unmatched for accommodations. Sports venues dot the state from St. Pete/Tampa to Orlando and Miami. The Orange County Convention Center is big enough to hold several of the 30+ sports on the Olympic program. These cities are now connected by Brightline passenger rail, which also was just a dream when Tampa wanted the Games.
Get In Line for Olympic Bid
With Los Angeles picked to hold the 2028 Summer Games and a number of other locales around the globe already in line, another Florida bid won’t happen anytime soon. It could easily be 20 or more years before any U.S. city hosts the quadrennial event. Countries in Africa, Asia and Europe are likely to hold the Olympics ahead of the next chance for the U.S.
That kind of timetable should keep aspirations in Orlando on the humble side. There’s no rush to make big plans, and every reason to build slowly toward an Olympic future in Central Florida.
Olympics=Sustainability
The IOC has heard the complaints of critics about the cost and complexity of the Olympics. No longer does it expect newly built arenas or extravagant infrastructure just for the Games. Sustainability is key. Paris 2024 will build just one venue for this year’s Games. LA, in 2028, won’t build any.
An Orlando Olympics could turn the campus of the University of Central Florida into an Olympic Village, much like Atlanta did with Georgia Tech in 1996. Los Angeles will use the dorms at UCLA for its village. In 1984, LA Olympians were housed on the campus of USC.
At the moment, the Florida economy is strong and growing. Should it continue, Olympics organizers would find it relatively easy to sell tickets in the state besides the national and international markets. On the sponsorship side there should be plenty of national as well as Florida-based companies eager to fill sponsorship categories.
Stormy Weather Big Risk
The Olympics come with risk. Maybe those sponsorship sales don’t meet the revenue target. The pandemic could strike, which in 2020 forced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics by one year, at great extra cost. But in Florida the biggest risk for a smooth running Olympic Games could be weather.
The dates for the Games normally fall in July and August, which for Florida could mean dangerous heat for athletes and visitors alike. It’s also the rainy season when thunderstorms could interrupt competition on a daily basis. And then there is the possibility of tropical storms and hurricanes. Factor the still evolving effects of climate change on the Sunshine State and meteorological conditions could be a dealbreaker.
New Gens Will Decide
The Olympics might seem a good idea for those looking at Orlando and the region in the years ahead. But the decision to go for the Olympics likely won’t be made by anyone in charge today. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer may be the longest serving in the city’s history, but he probably won’t be around to help 25 years from now.
Whether in Orlando or another city, the next Olympics in the U.S. after Los Angeles will be the domain of new generations. Millennials, Generations X and Z and their children being born now — will hold the reins of power when it becomes time to decide whether to bid for a mid-century Olympics in Orlando or any other U.S. city.
Fly Me to the Moon
A tantalizing final thought about the possibility of an Olympics in Florida: the U.S. has embarked on an ambitious program to return to the moon. Plans include colonization and commercial exploitation of space for manufacturing and communications.
I have speculated that as lunar colonies become routine, the notion of some form of physical activity would be part of living healthy on the cratered orb. So too might be Olympic-styled events in conjunction with the Games on Earth. Imagine the events that might be held on a lunar base: high jumps that are truly spectacular in low gravity; same for the long jump. Gymnastics would be out of this world.
In 25 years the timing could be right for Olympics on the moon. And what better place to mark this space first than from Central Florida, launching pad for U.S. galactic endeavors. Imagine the Olympic rings displayed on the VAB at the Kennedy Space Center, or floating above the moon’s horizon.
This weekend in Orlando the dreams may not be so grandiose as Olympics on the moon. But the quest of three men and three women to make the U.S. marathon team for the Paris Olympics will still be close to a superhuman task — for each of them, perhaps, a feat as mighty as reaching the moon.
Orlando for an Olympics? It begins with a dream.
Ed Hula is a resident of Mount Dora. He has covered the Olympics as a journalist and radio, TV and print since 1988.
He can be reached at edhula@hulasportcommunications.com.
Artificial Intelligence and digital technology are reshaping the experience of watching the Olympic Games for spectators around the globe. The democratization of Olympic storytelling will be the result says the head of the IOC’s broadcasting arm. The proving ground for this technological shift: the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon Province of South Korea, now in its final days.
Olympic Broadcast Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos calls the winter YOG “an incubator for innovation” for OBS. The Madrid-based company owned by the IOC is responsible for producing the video and audio signals used by broadcasters and online content producers covering the Games.
Yiannis Exarchos, CEO Olympic Broadcast Services
“It’s very difficult to be testing many things during the Games, he said during a media briefing this week from the Winter YOG. He says it’s much better to try out new technologies during a lower key event like the YOG instead of debuting at the Summer Olympics, which are five times the size of the winter or summer YOG. “You have to go with very mature technologies. So for us these [Winter YOG] are very special. You’ll see things already being implemented in only a few months for the Games in Paris,” said the OBS chief.
One of these new technologies is a virtual broadcast van. Instead of a truck packed with servers and other equipment, the virtual van provides all that via software and Cloud-based connections. IOC sponsors Intel and Alibaba are closely involved. The result, Exarchos says, is a smaller footprint, more cost-effective production and greater flexibility. Fewer staff will be needed as well.
First used in 2022 during the Winter Games in Beijing, the virtual van was trialed for the curling competition. In Gangwon it’s being used for ice hockey as well. In Paris the virtual van will help produce the coverage of judo, wrestling, tennis and shooting.
Exarchos said the digital revolution has meant lower costs of production well beyond the virtual van. Production of nearly half of the OBS Games coverage is handled at OBS headquarters in Madrid. That means fewer staff at the Games, whether the YOG or full-scale Olympics with 10,500 athletes. A smaller International Broadcast Center is also a cost-saving benefit of digital production. Once a mammoth venue, the IBC shrank by 23% from Rio 2016 to Tokyo 2020. In Paris, the IBC will be 13% smaller than in Tokyo. The IBC in Paris is also expected to reduce its power needs by nearly three-quarters from the Rio venue.
The IBC for Athens 2004 under construction.
Artificial intelligence will also play a role in efficient and sustainable Games, Exarchos said. Ice hockey in Gangwon is providing a test of this technology. He says AI isn’t ready for Paris. But he sees a day when AI driven cameras are used to cover early rounds of competition and sports that may be not as popular as athletics, swimming or gymnastics.
Exarchos notes that AI is already helping to generate highlights and summaries from the Olympic competition. With OBS providing coverage of 33 sports in Paris in nine languages, he says the need is great for AI to help deliver speedy results across the various digital platforms of the IOC. Speaking alongside Exarchos, IOC director of digital media and marketing Leandro Larrosa says that quick delivery is needed for an online audience that he expects instant results.
Asked about the dark side of AI which produces fakes, misinformation and other falsehoods for mass consumption, Exarchos says the IOC “will always err on protection and caution”. He says AI needs a structure of regulation in place that sets standards and boundaries for the use of this technology. The deliberations about these questions may be “the most important public conversation in the next years around the world”.
IOC Digital Media and Marketing chief Leandro Larrosa.
Larrosa says the uptake online so far for these Winter YOG is strong. Traffic for these games is up over 1.6 percent from Lausanne 2020, the preceding Winter YOG. He says that number is significant as these Games are taking place in a time zone far removed from the large audiences for winter sports.
“It is truly remarkable that our content is drawing more users than Lausanne,” he said at the media briefing.
Overall Larrosa calls the IOC’s digital presence one of the strongest among sports worldwide. He says there were 115 million users of the IOC digital platforms in 2023, some 28% higher than 2022. Notable is the fact that 2022 was an Olympic year, surpassed in numbers for 2023, without the boost of the Olympics.
In the wake of the digital revolution and adoption of AI, Exarchos says he would be “one of the richest man on Earth” if he could successfully predict the next technology breakthrough adopted for Olympic broadcasting. Right now he says the mission is to harness the new technologies to drive powerful story telling.
“Deep down, for us at OBS, the single most important thing in relationship to technology is again, storytelling, because this is a very unique human characteristic. I think we perceive reality and we imagine the future though listening to stories. This is also something we constantly try to do in the Olympic Games.
“The reason why the Olympic Games are so attractive and remain so attractive I think for large audiences, actually in Paris, half of the world’s population will engage with the Games, is people still get inspired by the stories of these incredible people who are the athletes of the world.
“For me the key point is to allow technology to help us to tell human stories in a more compelling, in a more authoritative, more inspirational way. What I feel is that there may be a shift in the future and we all should be welcoming that. That would be in finding ways people out there have the capacity to actually influence and become part of this storytelling. So to really use the capacity of digital technology. We have the capacity to collect individual reactions.
“For me this opportunity is fascinating because it can lead to a gradual complete democratization of storytelling, the participation of every single person in this human commonality that is the Olympic Games”.
Despite being expelled as the federation overseeing Olympic boxing, the International Boxing Association is likely to remain involved with the sport for years to come. Even as efforts proceed to form a new IF, IBA membership includes a sizeable majority of the 190+ countries with national boxing governing bodies.
The IOC in June took the extraordinary step of booting the IBA from the ranks of recognized summer Olympic federations, a first in the annals of the IOC. It followed years of sloppy leadership that the IOC largely overlooked until 2018 when the federation was suspended.
Questions over almost everything from governance and financing to doping and corruption in judging dominated the IOC list of concerns. The election of Russian Umar Kremlev in 2022 is another sore point with the IOC. Since his election the IOC has yet to officially acknowledge as Kremlev president of the IBA.
Umar Kremlev was elected IBA president in 2022.
But whatever satisfaction the IOC might take in expelling IBA from the ranks of the recognized summer sports, there is no federation to take its place. That includes World Boxing, a rival to IBA officially formed last month by the U.S., Great Britain and other European nations. But it has some hard yards to gain before it can apply for IOC recognition.
For now that means the IOC will organize Olympic boxing for Paris 2024 as well as Los Angeles 2028. It’s a job the IOC wants to unload but cannot until there is a federation it regards as competent to run Olympic boxing. IOC President Thomas Bach has warned that the IOC cannot do this forever.
World Boxing held its inaugural Congress in Germany a couple of weeks ago, but only about 25 national delegations turned up. At least 50 national federations are needed for IOC recognition. The World Boxing membership list includes just one in Africa and two from Asia.
Meanwhile the number of IBA members is north of 160 national federations. Among the heavyweights are Russia, China and India, as well as dozens of nations in Asia, Africa and the Americas.
There is more to recognition of a federation than just membership numbers. An IF has to be able to organize world championships and other events. Today, only the IBA is organizing events at that level for Olympic hopefuls; the situation seems unlikely to change soon.
For now it is IBA that continues to provide assistance to boxers around the globe. Kremlev has travelled extensively in the 18 months since his election. Last month he was in Africa where he brought boxing gear to Uganda and attended the meeting of the African Boxing Union in Ethiopia. He’s met with the president of Venezuela and the Pope in Vatican City. Now 41, Kremlev was the youngest IF president among the summer sports recognized by the IOC. Next week he is in Dubai to lead the 2023 IBA Congress and be on hand for an IBA Champions’ Night of boxing.
A poster promoting next week’s IBA Champions’ night in Dubai.
Kremlev says IBA training grants could reach $100,000 a year for national federations. Even without IOC funds that have been suspended for five years, he says IBA has eliminated the threat of bankruptcy and has cash available to fund its work.
World Boxing begins its life with a supposed bankroll of $400,000 and a strategic plan to bring this new federation to life. World Boxing faces the challenge of matching assistance offered by IBA. It could become a battle of resources to provide the help many of the smaller national boxing bodies depend on. For now it is IBA that is reaching into the grassroots of boxing.
Against the current political backdrop, Russia and its allies are unlikely to ever abandon IBA. Or to be accepted by World Boxing, given the strain that led to the split. The result: as long as boxing is in the Olympics, fighters from two different federations will feed into the Olympic Games.
One spoiler could come from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Last month it heard the appeal from IBA about its expulsion. Expectations are for the court to reject the appeal, but a different verdict likely would elicit some interesting reaction from Lausanne.
Just as the IOC has adopted the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, a similar situation may be needed for boxing. Politics between two federations should not be a reason to penalize athletes with Olympic aspirations.
The Russian war against Ukraine ignited sharp exchanges Tuesday from diplomats at the United Nations debating the Olympic Truce for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Since 1992, the Truce has been adopted in advance of the Games without fanfare: eight Summer Games, nine Winter Games.
Paris 2024 will be the ninth consecutive Summer Games. This is the first time it’s been a source of conflict at the U.N.
The U.N. General Assembly met Nov, 21 for the truce resolution.
Russia complained that it faces discrimination by the IOC, which is accused of using a “pseudo-basis” to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee last month. The IOC says it took that action because the ROC tried to install new Olympic committees in land considered Ukraine territory. Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya spoke for the Russian Federation.
Ukraine charged Russia with violating the terms of the Olympic Truce three times: in 2008 by invading Georgia, in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea, and in 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine. The Ukraine diplomat says Russian forces are “raping and stealing” their way through Ukraine.
This first-ever game of politics with the Olympic Truce also includes the warfare between Israel and Hamas. While Russia and Ukraine were exchanging barbs Egypt and Syria used talk of the truce to call for an end to the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
IOC President Thomas Bach at the U.N. Nov. 21, 2023.
In his remarks to the general assembly, IOC President Thomas Bach warned that politics pose a threat to the independence and universality of the Olympic Games. Speaking a few minutes after Russia discussed plans it is making for Friendship Games next September, Bach said the splinter event could help destroy the Olympics.
“As we have just heard, one or the other government is even planning to organize their own political sport events. Especially the latter, if realized, would mean that sport becomes a part of the political tensions and divisions in our world. This would lead to the political fragmentation of international sport. It would lead to sport competitions taking place along political lines: The Games of Political Bloc A. The Games of Political Bloc B. And so on. In such fully politically fragmented sport, there would be no more world championships, in the true sense of the word.”
“In such politically fragmented sport, truly universal Olympic Games would not be possible anymore,” Bach said.
The vote tally fpr the Olympic Truce resolution.
Speaking to reporters after the general assembly, Bach downplayed worry over Friendship Games. “We are not there yet,” he said about the proposed event in Russia.
Asked about the effect of the war between Israel and Hamas on sports events, Bach said the IOC is monitoring the situation for ways it could help if needed. The IOC president did point out that the IOC already follows a two-state policy regarding Israel and Palestine. The IOC recognizes NOCs for both entities. Bach says the IOC is communicating with both NOCs.
Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet opened the truce presentation with an optimistic tone, a 10-minute pep talk on how Paris will deliver Games at a time “when the world needs sport”. He managed to steer clear of any political comments, keeping to the talking points of Paris 2024 and its motto “Games Wide Open”.
Thomas Bach and Tony Estanguet take questions from media at the UN.
Regardless of the political flack generated around the resolution benignly titled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, the Truce was adopted with 118 votes in favor and two abstentions. Bach said the absence of any no votes was a “clear signal” of the need for the Olympics in today’s world.
Avoiding conflict is actually just one of a number of points within the resolution, which is modeled after previous editions. None of them have been controversial.
Among its points:
It calls for “support for the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic ideal”.
It notes “with appreciation that the IOC has allocated the same number of quota places to male and female athletes”.
Stresses Olympics “organized in the spirit of peace, mutual understanding, friendship, tolerance and inadmissibility of discrimination of any kind”.
Finally , the document “calls upon all Member States to cooperate with the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee in their efforts to use sport as a tool to promote peace, dialogue and reconciliation in areas of conflict during and beyond the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
LA28 Sport Buffet, Russia Schism Widens; Who Leads Next?
The IOC left Mumbai last week firmly unified behind President Thomas Bach. Less than two years before his term expires, Bach was in firm command of the IOC meeting in India. He navigated the 141st IOC Session through two days of reports and decision-making without a whiff of a challenge. Most of the time when a vote was needed, a show of hands sufficed among the nearly 80 IOC members attending. For the few occasions when a secret vote was required, there were only a few “no” votes.
The Mumbai Session was the best attended meeting since the pandemic for the IOC, whose ranks grew from 99 to 107 with the election of eight new members. The four women and four men selected include an Oscar winner, Olympic champion, two federation presidents and two Olympic medalists. It’s a diverse group, split evenly among gender with a range of specialties such as business, media and government.
Now 10 years after taking office, Bach has an IOC of his creation. Of the current 107 members, 70 of them elected with Bach as president.
Five for 2028: A Sport Buffet
The biggest story from the Session has to be the addition of five extra sports for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Cricket is in, along with lacrosse, squash and American flag football. Baseball/softball, which has been on and off the program for 30 years, is back on. The five sports were the choice of LA 28; all of them are team sports except for squash.
LA 28 chair Casey Wasserman played a major role in selecting the new sports and told the IOC that they represent an opportunity to bring new fans and supporters to the Olympic Movement.
Concerns about cost and size of the added events are an issue as IOC rules limit the Summer Olympics to 10,500 athletes. The new events would push that number above 11,000. Combined with a total of 36 sports, LA 28 would be the biggest-ever Olympics. Organizers say the expanded sports program will be worth it in the long run.
On the cost side, Los Angeles organizers say the additional sports can be accommodated without building new venues. There is room in the Olympic Village for extra residents. The complex of dormitories and apartments at UCLA is ready with space.
Cricket in particular seems to have found its niche in Los Angeles for a return to the Olympics. It appeared once before, at the London 1900 Games. Wasserman is known as a fan of NBA action. But he apparently likes cricket, too. Wasserman paid attention to the sport’s potential when International Cricket Council pitched LA 28 for a one-time shot at the Olympics. Initial estimates say cricket could mean an additional $200 million in rights fees from India, Australia and other countries with a cricket obsession.
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House for a state dinner in June, Wasserman was one of the guests, as was Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles during its Olympic now ambassador to India. Also at the dinner: IOC member Nita Ambani, one of India’s movers and shakers, patron of the just ended Mumbai IOC session and owner of one of the country’s premier professional cricket teams.
Wasserman and Garcetti both spoke at the IOC session. Wasserman eschewed his customary California business casual attire for a more somber dark suit. It fit the mood of his opening remarks, which briefly acknowledged the attacks by Hamas against Israel that had just occurred. He brimmed with emotion as he denounced violence and anti-Semitism. Wasserman told IOC members that he might not be speaking to them if his ancestors hadn’t been Holocaust survivors.
On the business side of things, Wasserman was accompanied by CEO Cathy Carter in the IOC presentation. USOPC chair Gene Sykes also took a turn. A former Goldman Sachs exec, he was COO of the LA bid that presented to the IOC in 2017 when it was chosen for 2028 and Paris for 2024.
Sykes leads a new team from the USOPC moving forward on the international front. He took office in January. Also at her first IOC Session was Delise O’Meally, named last year as USOPC vp for international relations.
CEO Sarah Hirshland, now in her sixth year at the USOPC, was the veteran of the group. The US team hosted IOC members at a reception one evening in Mumbai, including the two members in the U.S., International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty and Anita DeFrantz, an IOC member for nearly 40 years.
There is discussion behind the scenes about whether to name Sykes as a member well ahead of LA 28. Generally speaking, IOC members are supposed to be limited to two per nation, but that can be as flexible as the IOC president and executive board want it to be.
DeFrantz can serve until 2032 when she turns 80. She is the third most senior of the 107 current members of the IOC. DeFrantz has had some health issues and was greeted warmly by her colleagues as she navigated the session with the help of a scooter chair.
Russia Schism Widens
Two days before the IOC Session, Bach and the EB fired another salvo against Russia for its war against Ukraine by suspending the Russian National Olympic Committee. The move is in retaliation for efforts by the ROC and government to install new NOCs in three regions Russians occupy in eastern Ukraine. The EB says the action is against the Olympic Charter.
The suspension means no more money from the IOC to Russia for its share of Olympic marketing revenue. That in turn means the Russian Olympic Committee won’t have money from Olympic Solidarity, the IOC fund for athlete support.
The announcement was derided by Russian President Vladimir Putin as racist ethnic discrimination. Putin renewed his call for so-called Friendship Games next year along with other sports events featuring BRIC nations. Putin, whose Olympic Order honorific was withdrawn in 2014, is no longer on speaking terms with the IOC president as he once was.
Neither of the two IOC members in Russia — Yelena Isinbayeva or Shamil Tarpischev — went to Mumbai. No official explanation has been offered for their absence at what would have been a most uncomfortable meeting. Bach took pains to explain that Isinbayeva and Tarpischev are not IOC representatives for Russia, but IOC members in Russia. That distinction of independence is likely an academic one given the current IOC breach with Russia.
Speaking at the same conference where Putin made his remarks, Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislaw Pozdnyakov said he is confident Russian athletes will return to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
The ROC suspension means Pozdnyakov will not be invited to participate in the annual Olympic Summit hosted by the IOC president at the end of every year. He, along with the president of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, are traditionally the NOC leaders who are invited to this high level briefing with major federation leaders and IOC Executive Board members.
For Russia, the fall from IOC grace is dramatic. One of the most important countries in the world for sport, Russia has also been a key player in the world of the Olympics. Russian aspirations to bid for another Olympics are out the window for now. While the IOC believes the suspension of the ROC is necessary, the result is a widening split between them.
Who Will Fix Things?
Repairing the rift between the IOC and Russia may take longer, much longer than Stanislaw Pozdnyakov’s hopes for 2028.
Before there’s any consideration of an official Russian return to the Olympics, there must be a cease-fire and the end of the war against Ukraine. Reparations and rebuilding will be elements of rapprochement, too. Unfortunately, there are few signs that this war will end soon, certainly not by next July when the Paris Olympics begin. If not in 2024, will it be 2025 or 2026 when the war ends?
Given the indeterminate direction the war in Ukraine is taking, it seems unlikely that a cease-fire or rapprochement is possible before Paris, and possibly not for years to come. Two years from now a new IOC president will be in office as Bach is supposed to step down in April 2025. Assuming the worst — that Ukraine is still fighting back the Russian assault — it means the next IOC president starts day one with a difficult task. Either mend the rift or keep it from shattering the world of the Olympics. Experience, good sense and diplomacy of the highest order will be needed from whoever is IOC president.
The philosophy of “all in the same boat” espoused by former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in his quest for unity in the Olympic movement 25 years ago may well be put to the test.
Who better to revive that spirit than the son, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.? The businessman from Spain is well acquainted with Russia and has dealt with China through his work leading the IOC commission for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. He is one of the four IOC vice presidents.
Sebastian Coe, head of World Athletics, may be an IOC backbencher, but he is a two-time Olympic champion and led the 2012 London organizing committee. Coe has been dealing with Russia ever since he took office at the federation seven years ago just as the Russian doping scandal exploded. None of the possible contenders for president bring a resume comparable to his. Coe is believed to be developing a strategy to win the IOC post. So far he is the only IOC member to publicly express interest in the presidency.
Kirsty Coventry won seven Olympic swimming medals and is now a minister in the government of Zimbabwe. She has been chair of the Athletes Commission and heads the commission for the 2026 YOG in Senegal. She was elected to a seat on the EB at the Mumbai session; EB membership has been held by every one of the prior presidents.
Nicole Hoevertsz is a ranking government official in Aruba. Currently she is one of the IOC vice presidents and chair of the coordination commission for LA 28. She competed in synchronized swimming.
The IOC president said in a press conference last week that politicking for his job is inappropriate until after the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. As a matter of protocol, campaigning for the IOC presidency is supposed to be restrained and not waged publicly. Coe’s expression of interest in the post was in response to a reporter question at the World Championships some months ago. Neither he nor any of the other possible contenders are known to have launched any formal campaign activities.
But it might be noted that race for the IOC presidency began moments after the open of the Mumbai Session. Just as Bach launched the meeting, he recognized Mustapha Berraf of Algeria and Luis Mejia of Dominican Republic for comments. Both are two of the IOC’s more voluble members. Both heaped praise on Bach’s work, begging him to stay on four more years.
A seemingly surprised Bach thanked them for their bon mots, but insisted the Olympic Charter is something he honored. The governing document for the IOC sets 12 years as the term limit for a president. He called upon IOC vp and legal expert John Coates to explain the difficulty and timing required for a change in the charter. Coates said any change proposal needs 30 days notice prior to the Session when it will come for a vote. A two-thirds vote of the Session is then required.
But the real cruncher for a charter change would come from the EB chaired by Bach. The 15-member board must approve such proposals before the final draft heads to the Session for ratification. That would need to happen soon to have any chance of success at the 2024 Paris Session. With EB meetings in December and early 2024, there are not many chances left to take action. And with three EB members as possible contenders to succeed him, it would take some nerve on Bach’s part to even broach such a proposal for consideration by the EB, especially with him to benefit.
In his closing press conference, Bach did not categorically rule out the possibility that he would remain in office. He insisted that there is a reason the IOC has term limits for the president. The limit was a key IOC reform adopted 20 years ago in the wake of the Salt Lake City vote buying scandal the 2002 Games.
By rejecting the acclaim from his colleagues to pursue four more years, Bach demonstrates he is a man of his word. Or like a relay runner, ready to pass the baton onto a fresh pair of legs.
As mayhem and slaughter rage in Israel and Gaza and the war against Ukraine by Russia grinds on, the IOC meets over the next five days in Mumbai, India.
With Paris 2024 on the horizon, the IOC finds itself caught in a swirl of consequences from tensions that threaten world peace as well as the Olympics.
The Executive Board meets October 12 and 13 to set the agenda for a meeting of all 99 current members of the IOC. The two-day Session is the first to be held in person since February 2022, when about two-thirds of the members attended the meeting held on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics. That makes this Session the first to be held outside the confines of three years of pandemic controls.
So far there is no head count for Mumbai, which will still have the option for members to attend the meeting virtually.
The Jio World Convention Centre is the location of the IOC Session
The Oct. 15th and 16th meeting is the second time the IOC has conducted a Session in India. In 1983 the-then 76-member IOC gathered in New Delhi under President Juan Antonio Samaranch. At the time the IOC was battling what would become an unavoidable boycott by the Soviet Union of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It was payback for the U.S.- led boycott of the Moscow Games four years earlier. And on the human rights front, the IOC began its efforts in earnest to end apartheid in South Africa, which brought the nation back into the Olympic Movement nine years later.
Those challenges seem minuscule in some ways to the international pressures facing the IOC in 2023.
With two members of the IOC from Russia expected for this Session as well as the attendance of two IOC members from Ukraine, the issue of Russian athletes competing in the Olympics is an issue Pres. Thomas Bach will cover in his opening remarks to the Session on October 16.
The IOC has issued a lengthy explanation of the requirements that must be considered before athletes from Russia or Belarus can be accepted as competitors in Paris. Those athletes so chosen would compete as neutral athletes with no recognition of their national status. Bach has enjoyed strong backing for that policy, but the most strident opposition is coming from Ukraine, which sees no place for Russians in Paris, neutral status regardless.
Debate at the IOC session could become emotional if members have the chance to comment on the final draft of the IOC policy for athlete eligibility in 2024. There is also talk of Russia organizing games in 2024 with other BRIC nations that could roil the atmosphere ahead of Paris.
The crisis erupting between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza is certain to provoke some comment from Bach in opening remarks to the Session. He is likely to observe the cataclysmic effect this new outbreak of war is having on the lives of ordinary citizens as much as what it means for sport in the region.
Bach is expected to underline changes to the IOC and Olympic Games wrought by following his Olympic Agenda 2020+5 task list. That certainly will include tribute to Paris, the first Olympics held fully under the guidance of Agenda 2020 reforms. It would not be surprising for the meticulous IOC leader to spend an hour updating the members with his report.
IOC President Thomas Bach and the IOC Member in India, Nita Ambani with Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister of Maharashtra State.
The program for the 2028 Olympics being settled in Mumbai could bring five more sports to Los Angeles, possibly also taking one or two away at the same time. Cricket, baseball/softball, lacrosse, squash and flag football are the choice of LA28 needing IOC approval.
LA 28 chiefs Casey Wasserman and Kathy Carter are in Mumbai to present plan for the Games that includes sports last seen in the Olympics nearly a century ago. Joining them in Mumbai will be US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. He came to India after serving as Los Angeles mayor during the city’s bid for the Olympics.
The addition of cricket to the Olympic program — if only for one time — will be huge news in India, where it is the country’s number-one sport. Coincidentally the World Cup of cricket is underway in India, with the finals set for next month. IOC member Nita Ambani and her husband are closely involved with the sport. With Brisbane host of the 2032 Olympics, the chances grow for cricket to make an encore in Australia, another cricket-mad country.
Ambani and her husband are regarded among the wealthiest in India. A developer in her own right, the IOC Session takes place in the glittering Jio World Convention Centre built by one of Ambani’s companies. The complex in the Mumbai CBD is the largest meeting and performing arts venue in India.
While it was LA28’s choice to add five sports to the program, it will be up to the EB and the Session to ratify any recommendation to cut an existing sport from the program. The two possible candidates for relegation are weightlifting and modern pentathlon. Weightlifting has been subject to chronic use of prohibited substances and other violations of the international doping code as well as corruption and disorganization in the international federation.
Modern pentathlon, which has made some key changes to the way the sport is contested, believes it has made competitions far less complicated than the original five disciplines that included pistol shooting and equestrian. A laser pistol has replaced gunpowder and bullets and an obstacle course will take the place of the riding event. Running, fencing and swimming are the other three events. The sport dates from the 1920 Olympics; it was created by modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin to incorporate the skills needed for soldiers of that era.
Eight new IOC members are expected to be confirmed at the Session, including one from Israel.
Yael Arad, a judo medalist at the 1996 Olympics, is president of the Israel Olympic Committee. It is not known whether she will be able to travel to Mumbai for the IOC vote and oath-taking, given the interruption of air travel from Israel. The previous IOC member in Israel, Alex Gilady, died in 2022.
Other IOC member nominees include actor Michelle Yeoh from Malaysia. If confirmed she will become the first IOC member to have received an Oscar. Yeoh is married to Jean Todt, former racecar driver now president of the AIA, the international automobile federation.
Other nominees come from the world of sport and sports business. International Table Tennis Federation president Petra Sörling of Sweden and International Skating Union president Kim Jae Youl of South Korea are on the list by virtue of their federation status. Hungarian sports official Balázs Fürjes, Peruvian politician and volleyball silver medalist Cecilia Roxana Tait Villacorta, German sports marketing impresario Michael Mronz and Tunisian Olympic Committee president Mehrez Boussayene are the other nominees.
The Session in Mumbai will be the first with a doyenne for the IOC, Princess Nora of Liechtenstein. Elected to the IOC in 1984, she will be the most senior IOC member until her retirement at age 80 in 2030. The post calls for her to make short remarks about the IOC Session as the last item of business.
Elections for two members of the Executive Board among the business on the final day. One those seats is for a vice president, currently held by Ser Miang Ng of Singapore. The first term on the EB is over for Prince Feisal of Jordan, but he can run for a second.
Retiring from the IOC this year will be Sergey Bubka of Ukraine and Luis Alberto Moreno of Colombia, both covered by the age 70 rule. But Luis Mejia Oviedo from Dominican Republic, also hitting 70 this year, is recommended to receive an extension of his term for another four years due to the significant role he plays in the Olympic movement in the Caribbean.
Also proposed for a four-year term extension starting in 2025 is Gerardo Werthein of Argentina. The IOC deems the veterinarian turned high-tech kingpin “necessary” to handle oversight of Olympic Broadcast Services and chair the IOC’s commission on digital technology.
Seven members will be subject to pro-forma retention votes to serve another eight-year term: Prince Albert II of Monaco, Valeriy Borzov from Ukraine, Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden, Pakistani Syed Shahid Ali, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco and Nenad Lalović of Serbia.
The IOC EB opens work Oct. 12 and wraps up with a press briefing from the IOC President on Oct. 13. The Session opens with a ceremony the night of Oct. 14. The event expected to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is keen for India to be considered for a future Olympic Games. He knows that a smooth and successful IOC Session will help the cause.
Expect that to be the message as Paris marks one year to go until the 2024 Games.
IOC Pres. Thomas Bach and leaders of a dozen national Olympic committees from around the globe will celebrate the day Wednesday at Paris 2024 headquarters. They are gathering for the official invitation for the athletes of the world to come compete in Paris.
Bach and colleagues have reason to be joyful about Paris. This will be the first time since 2016 for a Summer Games to be held without the crushing rules and regimentation of the Covid 19 crisis. These Olympics are supposed to mark a return to noisy crowds and full venues that were forbidden under Covid rules.
But they also are the first Olympics in Europe to be held while three of its nations engage in bloody warfare. The Olympics stopped for World War I and World War II. No one has suggested Paris do likewise.
Against the uncomfortable backdrop of an unprovoked war against Ukraine by Russia and its ally Belarus, leaders of the IOC and Paris 2024 will publicly assure everyone that the Games are in good shape and ready to make the most of the 12 months known as the delivery phase.
Economy, Not Excess
Compared to some previous Summer Games, Bach and friends would be correct. No one is worrying if venues will be ready on time. Nor is anyone worrying about cost overruns for giant projects, because organizers have used existing facilities.
Indeed, Paris may be the Olympics that proves the IOC has succeeded in turning the Summer Games in a new direction. Sustainability is the overall driver with the objective to cut costs and complexity (and IOC demands) for host cities.
Bach is the driving force behind the reforms known as Olympic Agenda 2020. They were adopted unanimously by the IOC soon after he took office 10 years ago. Another supplemental group of changes was adopted in 2020, covering the last five years of his mandate.
“Change or be changed” has been Bach’s refrain as he shepherded reforms at the IOC and their implementation at two organizing committees, Paris and Los Angeles 2028. Bach is hoping that 2024 and 2028 will be proof of the Olympics’ new direction.
“Economy not excess” is the right way to do it under the new IOC doctrine.
France Delivers Worry-Free Venues
There is no anxiety in Paris or Lausanne about venue construction snafus because there are no construction projects.
Expensive rail construction to reach the airport or to connect Olympic venues? Not needed. The Paris transit system is one of the world’s best. In fact, organizers are so confident in the public transit system that the customary bus service to venues for the media will not be organized. That alone will save millions.
Competition will be staged at world-famous landmarks that were there before the Games were envisioned and will remain when they’re gone: beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, equestrian (already sold out) at Versailles, the marathon swim in a renewed River Seine. Marseilles already hosted the sailing test event earlier in July.
Wide Open Games
The slogan says it all — “Wide Open”.
Paris 2024 will celebrate the return of human contact with an opening ceremony that will fill the heart of the city. Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to line the banks of the Seine River where they can wave to the athletes of the world as they float by on barges.
These athletes — unlike those of the 2020 and 2022 Games — will be able to cheer back, as loudly as they want. They’ll feed off the energy of the crowds wishing them well.
The change will be striking — and welcome — after the eerie silence of Tokyo and Beijing.
France Delivers Stability
Along with the IOC president, Paris 2024 CEO Tony Estanguet will speak at Wednesday’s ceremony.
He brings to the job youth and experience as an Olympian. His leadership has been consistent from the start of the bid nearly 10 years ago. He has not been subject to political whims that have derailed leaders of preceding Olympics. Continuity has helped keep the organizing committee focused on their mission: Games ahead. A raid by police in June at the offices of the state company involved with Olympic preparations so far has not yielded serious concern about Games preparations. Estanguet and colleagues at the organizing committee are not involved in the inquiry.
The French government led by President Emmanuel Macron seems to be the one that will be in power as the Games approach. Protests and strikes have troubled France as Macron has tried to boost the age of retirement. There have been other protests spurred by the death of a teenager in police custody. The NoOlympics movement has an arm in France that may organize followers to enlist as volunteers and then fail to come to work. The ceremony Wednesday is set for the Paris 2024 offices in the suburb of St. Denis which should keep the event free from possible protester interruption.
Fog of War
But protests and volunteer saboteurs aside, the biggest existential threat for Paris will come from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The war and its consequences for athletes dominated the conversation last week when Bach spoke to world media in a roundtable organized to discuss Paris and one year to go.
Bach is committed to keeping the Games open to Russian and Belarussian athletes who have no ties to the military. They are able to compete as neutrals without national identity.
He is leaving it to individual sport federations to determine whether they will permit athletes from the two nations to enter qualification events for Paris 2024. The gymnastics federation said last week that it will allow Russian and Belarusian athletes who meet IOC requirements to try for Paris. (For anyone seeking further guidance, the IOC policy is detailed in a 10,000 word document updated earlier this month.
Whether Ukraine will accept the terms of engagement proposed by the IOC is not certain. Ukraine leaders and athletes are not too keen on going head-to-head with their invaders. In addition to the possibility of Ukraine staying home, it’s possible other nations might threaten to sit out the Games in solidarity.
Uncertainty seems to be the only thing that is certain as the Russian war against Ukraine drags on in year two. Maybe peace will come before the Olympics. Maybe conflict continues.
Olympic Truce Issues
Bach was careful last week when he responded to a question during the media roundtable about the Olympic Truce. The resolution is usually affirmed without any controversy by all member nations of the UN ahead of the next Olympic Games.
But Russia is now a two-time violator of the truce. First instance came at the end of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi when Russia annexed territory in the Crimean peninsula. The second was last year in the final days of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games when Russia launched its unprovoked war on Ukraine. Bach plans to be in New York in October to lobby for the truce. He says it will be up to France, as the host nation for the Olympics, to sponsor the resolution and lead the push for adoption.
No word yet on the Russian position on an Olympic Truce resolution, nor anything from Ukraine, which has the most to lose in bargaining with the two-time truce violator. Russia has been a signatory to every one adopted by the UN, including the two it blatantly ignored in 2014 and 2022. Whether that history will be part of the debate in October remains to be seen. Historically, no nation has been known to reject signing the resolution since the UN first adopted it in 1993.
Along with the Olympic Truce resolution, the coming months will bring constant developments as sports federations determine the eligibility of Russian and Belarusian athletes in Paris.
Ukraine sports leaders also will be watching for orders from their government, which may not follow the wishes of the IOC.
While sport is an important part of life for Ukraine, the fight for the country’s existence may be more important than fighting for medals in Paris.
Bill Shipp helped make my Olympic journey possible. Bob Cohn was one of the brilliant figures I would joyfully encounter on the journey.
Both men died hours apart from one another this month. Shipp, 89, lived in the Atlanta suburb Cobb County. Cohn was 88, residing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for just over a year after decades in Atlanta.
Shipp was the quintessential Georgia newspaper reporter who refused to be pushed around. He was fired as editor of the University of Georgia newspaper Red and Black when he refused to back down on reporting the integration of the university. Offered a job in Atlanta, Shipp spent 30 years with the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspapers, establishing himself as a preeminent expert on Georgia politics.
He left the paper in 1988 to launch Bill Shipp’s Georgia, a biweekly review of state politics in newsletter form, mailed to subscribers.
Ever a good eye for talent, Shipp had the foresight to inquire whether I might be interested in writing a column covering preparations for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. That was in 1992 as I went to Barcelona for my first Games as a credentialed journalist.
I covered the struggles over plans to build a new stadium, threats to boycott due to an anti-gay ordinance adopted in Cobb county, the savage attacks on Atlanta’s scorned mascot Izzy.
Every week Shipp would be on the telephone with me to go over things. He had great sources in government whose doors he was able to open for me. Always a skeptic, he had doubts about how well Atlanta would stage the Olympics.
In 1995 as my work on the Olympic beat expanded to an international scope, Shipp gave me his blessings to take the Hula Report, as it was known, and turn it into a separate publication under my ownership. From then on, the newsletter was the product of this writer and the many colleagues who would be a part of our team through the next 25 years. In 1996, The Hula Report was rebranded as Around the Rings, which is now under the wing of Infobae, the Buenos Aires-based content platform, since 2021.
Shipp retired from the newsletter business in 2000. He is a member of the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame.
A funeral is scheduled for July 14 in Marietta, Ga.
Thank you, Bill Shipp.
Bob Cohn was a brash Brooklyn born kid when he ended up in the deep south in the 1960s, a newspaperman of the same era as Shipp. But Cohn saw greater opportunity in public relations and opened shop in Atlanta in 1971. His personality and hustle boosted the firm toward a portfolio of blue-chip clients, including Coca-Cola. The firm became a worldwide player as Cohn and Wolfe, known today as Burson, Cohn & Wolfe.
Cohn’s passion for the Olympics led him to convince Coke in 1980 that the company should invest in pin trading centers for the Games. He was involved with marketing plans for torch relays sponsored by Coke.
Bob Cohn in a 2004 photo. (Ed Hula)
Along with the professional angle, the Olympics also turned Cohn into one of the top collectors of memorabilia, At one time he assembled a collection of Olympic torches, now part of the Olympic collection of the Atlanta History Center.
Cohn was an avid pin collector, delighting in swapping to obtain pins from each national Olympic committee at a Games. He wore a pin vest and waded into the crowds at the Games to score his treasures, mounted on huge framed displays at his home.
Cohn also served as a member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Olympic Games Authority from 1992 to 1997. MAOGA was an oversight board established by the state of Georgia to make sure the 1996 Olympics did not leave a deficit. The MAOGA board was successful in that mission. A close friend of Bill Shipp, George Berry, was chair of the watchdog group, incidentally.
Coincidentally this week, another former member of the MAOGA board died. Marvin Arrington Sr. was Atlanta City Council president during the lead up to the ’96 Games. He was 82.
A memorial is planned for Cohn August 5 in Atlanta.
