(ATR) The sixth IOC Coordination Commission for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics begins today in South Korea where commission leader Gunilla Lindberg will tour the venues of the Gangneung cluster.
The commission will receive updates on construction progress of the five venues in Gangneung, including the Curling Center, Gangneung Oval, Hockey Center, Ice Arena and Kwandong Hockey Center. Leading the tour will be POCOG president Cho Yang-ho along with members of the Korean Olympic Committee and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
On Tuesday, POCOG leaders will give the IOC commission updates on recent test events and venue construction before a joint press conference is held on Wednesday. The commission will likely raise concerns over a round of test events at the Alpensia Sliding Center that didn’t go on as scheduled due to a lack of ice.
The commission will talk in depth about the round of test events at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre and Bokwang Snow Park in February. Snowboarders and skiers said the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup competitions that took place at the venues were a success.
The visit will conclude with the press conference on Wednesday.
WADA Symposium Gathers Clean Sport Leaders in Lausanne
The World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium for Anti-Doping Organizations will be held March 14-16 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The event will gather leaders of International Federations, National Anti-Doping Agencies (NADOs), event organizers and WADA laboratories to talk about the future of clean sport.
The symposium will take place at the Palais de Beaulieu in the Olympic Capital. The theme of the event is "Partnering for Quality Practice" and ways to protect the rights of clean athletes.
Recent doping and corruption scandals at IFs such as the IAAF and FIFA will likely be a part of talks on how to end corruption and cheating in sport.
Day one of the event is open to the media and will focus on what WADA is doing to protect clean athletes and keep major sporting events doping free.
Indoor Track Championship Returns to United States
The IAAF Indoor World Championships will be held March 17-20 in Portland, Oregon, just the second time the event has been held in the United States.
The U.S. hosted the first edition of the indoor world championships in Indianapolis in 1987. Since then the event has been held every two years with the competition in Portland marking the 16th edition.
Seb Coe says these championships "are the most important athletics event in 2016" outside of the Rio Olympics this August.
Russian athletes will not be allowed to compete in these championships as the national federation awaits a ruling on its reinstatement by the IAAF Council in May.
Winners of each event will receive $40,000 and if they set a world record they will receive a bonus of $50,000. Athletes from 150 countries will compete for the prize money and title of world champion, as well as momentum heading into the Rio Olympics.
City Events Highlights Role of City in Major Events
The sixth edition of the City Events conference will take place in Paris, France from March 14-15 and will highlight the increasing role of the host city in putting on major events.
According to City Events, host cities and event organizers work together more than ever to promote the city and "ensure that these events will be the starting point of policies, programs and projects aiming to improve the quality of life for citizens."
City Events will welcome five sports business professionals that have witnessed the expanding role of the host city in sporting events to deliver its fourth round-table of the conference dubbed "The City at the Heart of the Event".
Jérôme Lacroix of the International Cycling Union, Dawn Goodwin of NGO International Inspiration, London's head of sports Simon Cooper, Paul Zealey of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Geert Hendricks of AISTS will provide their perspectives of the evolving role of the city in organizing events.
More than 100 stakeholders are already registered for the event and participants may begin to schedule their individual meetings to network through cityevents-sport/networking.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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