Olympics
Boycott looms at next year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Ukraine will consider boycotting next year’s Olympic Games in Paris if athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete, the country’s Sports Minister Vadym Guttsait has warned.
It followed the confirmation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday that they were continuing to “explore a pathway” for Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation at Paris 2024 under a neutral banner.
Guttsait, also President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOCU), has vowed they will do everything they can to ensure Russia and Belarus are not represented in any form in the French capital.
“For the whole Ukrainian sports community, this is a question of principle!” Guttsait wrote on his Facebook page.
“In this, we are supported by both the President of our state, and all society.
“Part of the International Federations are outraged by the IOC’s efforts to promote the return of Russians and Belarusians.
“We have addressed and will address all international organizations that can influence the situation and whose opinions the IOC members can listen to.”
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had urged his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to help ensure they are not represented at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
It followed insidethegames’ exclusive revelation that Guttsait had told IOC President Thomas Bach during a conference call involving several National Olympic Committees that athletes from Russia were serving in the country’s armed forces and they were “killing our people”.
“Our position is unchanged: as long as there is a war in Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be in international competitions!!!” Guttsait wrote on Facebook.
“Certainly, our national sporting federations need to strengthen communication with international federations to keep the ban in effect.
“Work is currently underway on further possible steps and first steps to continue sanctions and prevent Russians and Belarusians from international competitions.
“If we are not heard, I do not rule out the possibility that we will boycott and refuse participation in the Olympics.”
There was support for the IOC position from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
“I think this is a moment for athletes and that athletes should not be deprived of their competition,” she told television channel France 2.
“But I think and I plead, like a large part of the sports movement, so that there is no delegation under the Russian banner.”
The Olympic Council of Asia reaffirmed their invitation to athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in qualifying competitions, while the European Olympic Committees said in a statement that it “does not feel athletes should be prevented from competing solely on the basis of which passport they hold.”
But the United Kingdom Government, which has been Ukraine’s biggest supporter since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last February with Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak both having visited Kyiv, criticised the IOC position.
“We condemn any action that allows President Putin to legitimise his illegal war in Ukraine,” the UK’s Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said.
“This position from the IOC is a world away from the reality of war being felt by the Ukrainian people – and IOC President [Thomas] Bach’s own words less than a year ago where he strongly condemned Russia for breaking the Olympic Truce and urged it to ‘give peace a chance’.
“We, and many other countries, have been unequivocal on this throughout, and we will now work urgently across like-minded countries to ensure that solidarity continues on this issue.”
Insidethegames
Tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will go on sale to the general public on April 9, organisers said on Monday, as LA28 also moved to reassure fans over ticket security by naming a group of verified resale platforms that will begin operating in 2027.
A presale for residents in qualifying areas of Los Angeles and Oklahoma City will begin on April 2, with notification emails for selected buyers set to roll out from March 31 through April 4, LA28 said.
On April 7, the organising committee will notify remaining registrants whether they were selected for a purchase window in the first general sales round, known as Drop 1.
“This week marks the first opportunity for fans to claim a seat at the LA28 Olympic Games,” LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.
LA28’s ticketing programme will include 1 million tickets priced at $28, the lowest price point. Roughly 5% of the Olympic tickets will cost over $1,000, while more than 75% of all tickets, including finals, will be under $400 and nearly 50% of all tickets will be under $200.
“Tickets are comparable to and in many cases well under what we see for other professional sporting and major entertainment events in the U.S.,” Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28 Senior Vice President, Games Delivery Revenue, told reporters on a call.
RESALE PROGRAMME
Separately, LA28 said its verified multi-platform resale programme would open in 2027, with AXS and Eventim serving as the official secondary ticket marketplace and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets also designated as verified resale platforms.
The announcement comes as organisers prepare for the first ticket drop and seek to warn fans against buying from unauthorised sellers before the resale programme launches.
LA28 said primary tickets would only be sold through its official ticket service providers, AXS and Eventim. It added that any LA28 tickets offered for resale before 2027 should not be considered verified.
“While LA28’s resale platforms will not be launched until 2027, having a variety of platforms was critical to providing fans multiple points of access to verified tickets,” Hoover said.
LOCAL PRESALE
Fans who registered for the LA28 ticket draw and whose billing postal codes fall within qualifying counties were automatically entered into the local presale draw. Those selected will receive 48-hour purchase windows running from April 2 through April 6 and must use a payment method tied to a billing postal code in an eligible county to complete their purchase.
For both the local presale and Drop 1, selected buyers will have 48 hours to purchase tickets, while any tickets placed in a cart must be checked out within 30 minutes. Buyers may complete multiple transactions during their allotted window until they reach the ticket limit.
LA28 said tickets would be available across all Olympic sports, as well as for the opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Fans selected for time slots may buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, plus up to 12 tickets for the soccer tournament that will not count toward the general Olympic-event limit. Ceremony tickets will be capped at four per buyer and will count towards the 12-ticket maximum.
Registrants who are not assigned a time slot in either the local presale or Drop 1 will be automatically entered into future draws, LA28 said. Paralympic tickets are due to go on sale in 2027.
Ticket-inclusive hospitality packages from official provider On Location are also expected to go on sale in April. Visa will be the official payment method for purchases.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled the event’s official visual identity on Monday, a floral-themed design system meant to reflect the city’s landscape, neighbourhoods and cultural character.
The branding will appear across competition venues, fan areas, citywide installations, signage, digital platforms and broadcast presentations during the Games, LA28 said.
At the centre of the design is the “Superbloom,” a reference to the bursts of wildflowers that can blanket parts of Southern California after periods of rain.
LA28 said the concept was intended as a metaphor for the Games, with years of preparation culminating in a short, high-profile global event.
The core graphic is built around 13 individual blooms, which organizers said represent different elements of Los Angeles, from its entertainment culture to its neighbourhoods, people and native landscape.
The colour palette draws on the Bird of Paradise, the official flower of Los Angeles, and is grouped into four families – Poppy, Scarlet Flax, Bluebell and Sagebrush – to evoke the region’s terrain and vegetation.
Organizers said the typographic style was inspired by Los Angeles street signage, including strip mall and hand-painted storefront lettering, in an effort to give the identity a distinctly local feel.
LA28 said the design was developed to work across a wide range of settings, from nearly century-old venues to new facilities, while also accounting for broadcast requirements, digital formats and lighting conditions. The organising committee partnered with design studio Koto on the project.
The identity was unveiled more than two years before the Olympic opening ceremony in what organizers described as an unusually early rollout, allowing partners and stakeholders more time to incorporate the branding into their materials.
Los Angeles will host the Olympics for a third time in 2028, after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984. It will also host the Paralympics for the first time.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said on Monday that registration for the first ticket draw will close on March 18, as the Games begin to take shape with the first baseball qualifiers confirmed and the soccer tournament schedule expanded.
More than five million fans from 197 countries and territories have registered at tickets.la28.org since January for a chance to buy tickets, LA28 said, underscoring strong early demand for the Summer Games, which are due to open on July 14, 2028.
Fans who register by the March 18 deadline will be eligible for a lottery to receive a purchase window for the first ticket release, scheduled for April 9-19.
There will also be a local presale running from April 2-6 for eligible residents in parts of Southern California and Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host softball and canoe slalom.
LA28 said selected applicants would be notified by email between March 31 and April 7. Fans picked for the first sale window will be able to buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, subject to availability, with a four-ticket cap for each of the opening and closing ceremonies.
BASEBALL RETURNS
The ticketing update comes as the first teams booked places in the Olympic baseball tournament through the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured qualification spots from the Americas, joining host United States in the six-team field.
Baseball, one of the sports added to the LA28 programme, will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Tokyo Games and will be played at Dodger Stadium from July 13-19. The remaining three places will be decided through international qualifying tournaments in 2027 and 2028.
LA28 also confirmed that the Olympic soccer tournament will begin on July 10, four days before the opening ceremony, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee Executive Board to extend the competition window.
Organisers said the longer schedule would give teams two additional rest days compared with previous Games.
Group-stage and quarter-final matches will be staged in seven U.S. cities – New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego and Pasadena – with the men’s and women’s gold medal matches to be played at the Rose Bowl.
LA28 said kickoff times and the full schedule would be released later this year.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup1 week ago
Infantino promises FIFA backing for Iran to play at World Cup
- Governing Bodies5 days ago
The Building of Another Sports Dynasty: From Fahmy to Adamu
- Boxing4 days ago
Wilder edges retiring Chisora in chaotic heavyweight boxing fight
- Nigerian Football1 week ago
NFF to inaugurate electoral committees ahead of September elections
- AFCON2 days ago
Motsepe in Dakar: CAF Intensifies Diplomatic Push After AFCON Final Dispute
- Table Tennis1 week ago
Aruna Faces Tough Draw as Africa Targets Glory at ITTF World Cup in Macao
- World Cup6 days ago
Italy federation chief resigns after another World Cup failure
- AWARDS4 days ago
Night of Stars: Dikko, Oshodi Lead Roll Call of Honour at 2026 Sportsville Awards