News

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach joined youngsters from Lausanne and other Swiss regions in participating in a range of activities to mark Olympic Week.

The initiative, established by the Olympic Museum based in the Swiss city, offers 40 free sporting and cultural activities to eight to 15-year-olds and their families.

The event is now in its 35th year and the 2014 edition reportedly attracted around 6,500 participants.

Bach took part in a range of sports, including basketball and korfball, and he also interacted with members of the public during his appearance.

Several of the sports on the Summer Olympic programme will be exhibited during the week, such as archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, golf, handball, judo, rowing, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and weightlifting.

Participants can also take part in biathlon and bobsleigh, two sports on the Winter Olympic programme, as well as billiards, climbing, orienteering and roller sports, which are all recognised by the IOC.

Attendees will also get the chance to try out non-recognised sports such as broomball, cheerleading, diabolo, American football, Nordic walking, inline hockey and slackline, similar to rope walking.

These activities will all continue throughout Olympic Week, which is due to conclude on Thursday (October 15).

Those who attend the event in Lausanne, considered the worldwide capital of the Olympic Movement, will also get the chance to meet an athlete and get involved in sessions outside of sport, such as road prevention and a Get Active! Interactive exhibition aimed at increasing the amount of exercise young people do.

Since the opening of the Olympic Museum in 1993, Olympic Week has grown each year and now offers a host of sporting activities to young people free of charge.

It was originally purely a presentation of Lausanne’s various sports clubs when it was first set up in 1980.

Source

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has warned how FIFA must act "swiftly to regain credibility" amid a claim that their problems are "structural" in nature, requiring more changes than simply the election of a new President.

In what marks by far his strongest criticism yet concerning the problems engulfing football's world governing body, Bach told the organisation to take measures complying with themes of accountability, transparency and good governance prioritised in the IOC's own Agenda 2020 reform process.

This follows today's announcement that FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA counterpart Michel Platini have both been provisionally suspended for 90 days by the adjudictory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, while former vice-president Chung Mong-joon has been banned for six years.

Dan Reed, head of global sports partnerships at Facebook, claimed here that social media companies such as his, as well as Instagram and Snapchat, are going to be “vital” for the future business models of sporting bodies and clubs.

Reed, who was speaking at the Leaders Sport Business Summit 2015, urged organisations to utilise the tools in order to tap into sports fans already using social media and stated that “Facebook has the biggest community of fans in the world”.

Talking to a packed room as part of a session titled “A Winning Combination: Technology Partnerships at the Highest Levels” Reed reflected on the relationships the company have with major sporting leagues around the world.

Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of advertising giant WPP, today wowed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the message that the need to engage with young people has "never been more urgent".

In a virtuoso keynote speech to start the day’s proceedings, Sir Martin complimented his audience on the "very bold step" of setting up an Olympic TV Channel, while urging them to be "brave", "determined" and "proud of delivering the future of the Olympic Movement through this new medium".

His long, pithy, almost academic masterclass on the state of global media and its implications for stakeholders in the sporting movement, triggered a spate of questions that carried the event far beyond its allotted time-span.

T&T’s senior men’s team will be looking to turn the result over to their favour when they face off with Panama in an international friendly at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez at 8.30 pm (9.30pm TT time) today.

Back in 2000, when both teams met at the CONCACAF semifinal round of World Cup qualification, T&T were easy 6–0 winners at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, with Dwight Yorke leading the way with a hat-trick.

Since then the two teams have met 11 times with T&T winning five, Panama four and two being drawn. But Panama have won four out of the last six outings, including the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal clash in June and a friendly in Couva in March.

TRINIDAD AND Tobago’s senior men’s team will be looking to turn the result over to their favour when they face off with Panama in an international friendly at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez at 8.30 pm today (9.30pm TT time).

Back in 2000 when both teams met at the CONCACAF semi-final round of World Cup qualification, TT were easy 6-0 winners at the Queen’s Park Oval, with Dwight Yorke leading the way with a hat-trick. Since then the two teams have met eleven times with TT winning five, Panama four and two being drawn.

MULTIPLE NATIONAL road cycling champion, Emile Abraham, caps off his distinguished 30-year career when he suits up in the red, white and black for one last hurrah at the Caribbean Road Cycling Championships in Barbados later this month.
The 41-year-old veteran endurance rider made public his decision to retire from all major international competition at the closing ceremony of the 29th Tobago International Cycling Classic (TICC) on Sunday.

Abraham is rated as Trinidad and Tobago’s most accomplished road cyclist having won over 30 National titles (senior and junior), UCI ‘B’ World Championships bronze (2003), Pan American silver (2007/ Road Race), TT Male Athlete of the Year (2007), Central American and Caribbean (CAC) silver (2010), Caribbean Road Cycling Championships silver (2013 and 2014), produced numerous top-three finishes at countless global Tour races and was ranked 33rd in the world in the Points Race among a lengthy list of other competitive accolades.

Speaking exclusively to Newsday prior to his apt announcement on Sunday, the Tobago bred cyclist opted to tell all on his astounding career, delving into the many highs and lows which ultimately built him into the athlete he is today. Looking back, Abraham is pleased but will ever so often reminisce and sometimes question decisions made and opportunities he was unable to capitalise on and benefit from.

The T&T Pro League appears well on course to achieving the objectives set out in government's plan for sports over the next five years.

At least so says Dexter Skeene, Chief Executive Officer of the T&T Pro League, in his feature address to players at the first ever Player Development Seminar at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium, yesterday.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his budget presentation on Monday stated that Government will develop plans and programmes to encourage many citizens to become involved in sport and recreational activities. He also revealed that T&T will be aiming to be a world class sporting nation by establishing an all encompassing policy to increase the pool of talent from where more world champions will emerge and gain international recognition.

Newly installed Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith wasted no time in familiarising himself with three sporting facilities that are in the final stages of construction during a tour last week.  

Smith, along with permanent secretary Gillian Macintyre as well as staff from the Sports Company of T&T (Sportt), did a comprehensive walk-through of the Aquatic Centre and Cycling Velodrome in Couva and the Tennis Centre in Tacarigua.