Governing Bodies
Drug cheat takes Olympic oath at Tokyo 2020
Belarus has appointed convicted drugs cheat Ivan Tsikhan as its team captain for the delayed Olympic Games here, where the country’s controversial President Aleksandr Lukashenko warned its athletes would be the target of political pressure.
The 44-year-old hammer thrower has been appointed to the honorary role following a vote by the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus (NOCRB) Athletes’ Commission.
Tsikhan was stripped of the Olympic silver medal he had won at Athens 2004 after a re-test of his sample in 2012 from those Games showed traces of banned anabolic steroids.
As a result of his 2012 re-test, Tsikhan was also stripped of the gold medals he had won at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki and the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg.
Despite this, Tsikhan read out on oath on behalf of Belarus’ athletes in front of Lukashenko where he said: “I promise that during the Olympic Games in Tokyo we will compete fairly and without doping.”
There had been doubts that Belarus would even be able to compete under their own flag at Tokyo 2020 following allegations that the NOCRB had politically discriminated against athletes for taking part in protests aimed at Lukashenko following his controversial re-election last August, which has sparked widespread protests in the country.
Lukashenko and his son Viktor, who succeeded him as NOCRB President in February, are both banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from attending Tokyo 2020 as a result, although the threat of Belarus being suspended appears to have receded.
Aleksandr Lukashenko took the opportunity at a farewell before the team left for Japan to attack the IOC and other International Federations who have stripped Belarus of hosting rights for major events.
“I want to tell you that your sporting achievements are not only a personal triumph,” he said.
“Today they are akin to other kinds of victories, up to political ones.
“However, sport became a bargaining chip in politics a long time ago, unfortunately.
“Your successes should become a response to those people who first took everything they could from the country, and now wish it and you defeat.
“A response to those states that are strangling or trying to strangle us with sanctions.
“Expectations are very high.
“Of course, you understand it.
“But this burden is no heavier than the challenges you have already overcome.
“I know in detail what you have had to go through.
“But you stood your ground.
“The main and decisive step remains.
“You have faced it all.
“You took these attacks like true athletes, showing patience, will and courage.
“You still need these qualities now in order to defend the honour of our Belarus in sporting arenas in Tokyo.
“You know that your rivals will be incredibly strong.
“Restrictions related to public health and increased control by various structures will also create certain difficulties.
“Pressure with political overtones is not excluded either.”
Belarus is set to be represented by 109 athletes in 20 sports at Tokyo 2020.
Since making its debut in the Summer Olympics at Atlanta in 1996 following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Belarus has won at least one gold at every Games.
Its best performance came at Beijing 2008 when the team won a total of 14 medals, including three gold.
The medallists included Tsikhan, winner of a bronze which he was initially stripped of following a positive test for testosterone, before having it restored following a successful appeal because of an error made by the laboratory in China.
His team mate Vadim Devyatovskiy, winner of the silver in the hammer, also tested positive for testosterone but was allowed to keep the medal because the same error was made by the laboratory.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport took the highly unusual step of warning this did not mean they were cleared of suspicion, insisting the verdict “should not be interpreted as an exoneration”.
Tsikhan, who controversially replaced Devyatovskiy as President of the Belarus Athletic Federation last September, promised that the athletes would make proud their country proud.
“We know that during the Olympic Games the entire country, the entire nation will support us and root for us,” he said.
“We also understand the responsibility and hopes the country pins on every athlete and coach on the team.”
-insidethegames
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Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.
The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.
Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.
Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.
Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.
Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.
“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).
“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”
‘Pure passion’
Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.
“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”
Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”
“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.
“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.
“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.
“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.
“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.
After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”
“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.
“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
-AFP
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Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.
Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.
Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.
However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.
Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.
Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.
Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.
On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.
“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.
“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”
Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.
“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.
A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.
“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”
-Reuters
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Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.
During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.
Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.
Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.
“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”
The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.
IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.
The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.
-Reuters
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