Category: safety

looming IOC PR disaster Paris

The International Olympic Committee floated the worst possible solution to a real dilemma. Allowing some RUS athletes to compete in the Paris Olympics — but not those who support Putin’s attack on Ukraine.

Allow them all. Or ban them all. Simple.

… the IOC knows it will have a PR disaster on its hands if it allows Russians en masse into the Games. …

Insiders suggest that the IOC will instead place multiple conditions on entry, including banning the Russian flag and anthem and requiring its athletes to wear all-white uniforms.

More significantly, anyone with links to the Russian military is also likely to be barred – which could result in 75% of their team and officials being declared ineligible. …

Guardian – So Mr Bach, will nothing ever be enough to ban Russia from the Olympics?

Putin has been bombing civilian targets including Bakhmut’s stadium which is used as a training facility for Ukraine’s Olympic athletes.

Fighting Illini for Mental Health

Team is dedicating the 2023 season to promoting mental health. Some problems can be helped by having some kind of support group.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

RUS Gymnastics invited to Asian Games

This event does not qualify anyone to the Paris Olympics.

Russia’s gymnastics and wrestling federations said on Tuesday they had been invited to take part in this year’s Asian Games …

Organisers of the Asian Games — scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, China, from Sep. 23 to Oct. 8 — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. …

reuters

I doubt any of the Asian nations will boycott in protest, but hope they do.

H Bars do break – metal fatigue

I still recall the day in the 1990s when my boss Keith Russell insisted we recycle the horizontal bar at University of Saskatchewan. Pay for a new one.

He felt they had to be replaced every 10 years in a Gym with many adult male gymnasts.

RUS Maxim Khodykin volunteers to fight in Ukraine

Russian gymnast Maxim Khodykin has travelled to fight in the country’s war on Ukraine, according to the national team doctor Sergei Gulevsky.

Khodykin has trained at the Russian gymnastics Olympic base – the Ozero Krugloye facility outside Moscow – although was not in the national team.

His last competition was at the Mikhail Voronin Cup in December, when he finished second in the men’s rings. …

Children’s Rights in Sport – Norway

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990 does not include any direct reference to sports.

Norway is better, putting CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN SPORT into law in 2007.

1. SAFETY Children have the right to practice in an environment that is safe and secure, without any inappropriate pressure or exploitation. Children under 6 years should be accompanied by an adult to help avoid accidents and prevent injuries.

2. FRIENDSHIP AND ENJOYMENT Children have the right to participate in training and competitive activities which are designed to help develop friendship and solidarity amongst them.

3. COMPETENCY Children have the right to experience the feelings of competency and to learn a varied skill-set. They should also be given the opportunity to experience variation in their sports, training and interactions with others.

4. INFLUENCE Children have the right to express their own opinions and that their opinions should be considered. Children should have the opportunity to participate in planning sessions and can execute their own ideas in sports activities with their coaches and parents.

5. THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE Children have the right to choose which sport, or how many sports they wish to participate in. Children have the right to determine how much they wish to practise their sport.

6. COMPETITIONS FOR ALL Children have the right to choose whether they would like to participate in competitions, and should have equal opportunities to participate. Children transferring from one club to another in the same sporting discipline have the right to compete in competitive sports for the new sport club, as soon as the registration is completed.

7. ON THE CHILDREN’S TERMS Children have the right to participate in training and competition activities that are suitable to their age, physical development and maturation level.

Download the PDF free.

childrens-rights-in-sport-norwayDownload

CAN Gymnastics Club sues documentary makers

Bell Media, TSN and a reporter are the defendants in a $500,000 lawsuit over allegations made in the documentary Broken: Inside the Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics

A Crave TV documentary about gymnastics in Canada contained defamatory content about a Calgary club and its CEO, a $500,000 lawsuit claims.

The Calgary Gymnastics Centre (CGC) and chief executive Brett MacAuley allege the 90-minute documentary, co-produced by TSN and CTV’s W5, damages their reputation both directly and by linking them, through innuendo, to more abusive behaviour in the sport. …

Calgary Herald – Crave TV documentary defamed Calgary gymnastics club and its CEO, lawsuit claims

Full disclosure. I’ve known Brett MacAuley for decades. And have spent a lot of time at Calgary Gymnastics Centre. I’ve always considered it one of the best clubs in Canada and would recommend the Gym to parents.

I’ll be following this court case closely.

coloured athletic tape

Our Colour Athletic Wrap offers different kinds of tape in many different colours.

FIG Safeguarding Notification

As of Jan. 1, 2023.

Affiliated and Associated Member Federations now have the obligation to communicate to the FIG Office the identity of any member convicted of harassment and/or abuse in relation with any Gymnastics activities by any judicial or disciplinary authority. …

The notification procedure is simple: please send the relevant information by email, including any supporting documentation as attachments, to the FIG Office at safeguarding@fig-gymnastics.org. 

via email

PLAY or watch it on YouTube. 

#respect for the IOC

Though I disagree with the decision to possibly, maybe allow some athletes from Russia and Belarus to perhaps in some-way compete the Paris Olympics — I have to admire whomever wrote this clarification for them.

They answer the hard questions one-by-one without waffling.

That said, the best decision would be to ban those athletes from Paris if Russia does not withdraw by a preassigned date.

There have been precedents in the past when you have excluded complete teams from the Olympic Games, like South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.

The exclusion of South Africa was based on UN sanctions. Apartheid was also practised in South African sport. These UN sanctions applied to all walks of life. The IOC followed the United Nations with this decision. …

Do the current deliberations mean the IOC will allow athletes with a Russian and Belarusian passport at the Olympic Games Paris 2024?

This is premature. No decision has been taken on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The topic under discussion is about their participation in international competitions in Asia in the forthcoming summer sport season. …

Who will be responsible for determining whether a Russian or Belarussian athlete actively supports the war? What are the criteria to determine this?

Currently, an exploration of a primary concept for conditions of participation is underway. No decision has been taken. What the details could look like will have to be worked out and decided on. …

What will happen in the case of athletes from Russia and Belarus who have already missed out on qualification?

Some qualification events in several sports have already taken place. The IOC will not ask IFs to adapt their qualification systems retroactively to allocate additional quota to athletes with a Russian or Belarussian passport that have missed out on qualification opportunities due to the war. …

What if an athlete expresses support for the Russian invasion before or during the Olympic Games?

As outlined in the primary concept for conditions of participation, only athletes who fully respect the Olympic Charter would participate. Such behaviour is not compatible with the Olympic Charter. …

First, only those who have not acted against the IOC’s peace mission by actively supporting the war in Ukraine could compete. …

#1 disqualified in all of Russia should be Nagorny.

Read the statement for yourself.