Gidabuday Sports Tourism Foundation (GSTF)

From Hitler to superpower boycotts, the Olympics has had to deal with several threats over the 120 years of its modern incarnation The International Olympic Committee will not impose a blanket ban on Russia for next month's Rio Olympics over the nation's doping record but will leave decisions on individual athletes' participation with their sports federations, it said. The IOC's announcement follows the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) call for a Rio ban in response to the independent McLaren report that found evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi . The world governing body's ruling 15-member executive board met on Sunday via teleconference and decided that responsibility for ruling on the eligibility of Russians remains with the international federations. "We have set the bar to the limit," IOC president Thomas Bach said after the meeting, defending the action agai...

Less than a week to go, still working on a Golf Course After seven years, almost $US12 billion, a litany of problems and with just a few days to go, Rio is still not ready to hold the biggest games on Earth. The weekend collapse of the main access ramp at Marina da Gloria, the Olympic sailing venue, was symbolic. There is a slump in mood and expectations ahead of Friday's opening ceremony. Previous Olympiads have faced budget blowouts, delays and mistakes, so Rio is not alone.  But this one might just win the gold medal. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said every Olympics faced challenges, and has reassured the world that Rio will be ready. But serious questions are again being asked about construction quality and safety. "There is a tendency in Brazil to leave a lot for the last minute, to improvise and 'just' get things done,'' Professor Ricardo Teixeira, a marketing specialist, said. Jose Cabral Gomes is one Bra...

Russian Alexander Dyachenko won gold in the kayak doubles sprint at the London Olympics in 2012 Eight athletes across canoeing, modern pentathlon and sailing are the latest Russians to be banned from Rio 2016. The sports' governing bodies said they were implicated in the damning  World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report  into state-sponsored doping in the country. Eighteen athletes have now been banned since the International Olympic Committee said individual federations should decide if Russians can compete. Wada president Sir Craig Reedie said he was "disappointed" with that decision. International Canoe Federation secretary general Simon Toulson said his organisation had taken "swift action and removed all offending athletes where doping evidence exists". How many Russians will compete at the Rio Olympics? Elena Aniushina, Natalia Podolskaya, Alexander Dyachenko, Andrey Kraitor and Alexey Korovashkov have been suspended pending further investi...

Dancers rehearse before a welcoming ceremony for athletes at the Olympic Village /  AFP: Yasuyoshi Chiba Even Brazilian athletes who were meant to have started taking up lodgings in the brand-new complex from Sunday were being kept in hotels instead. Rio's Olympic organisers said such teething problems plagued all Olympic Games. They promised that "adjustments" were being made to resolve the problems. The Olympic Games - the first to be held in South America - are to open on August 5, less than two weeks away. But Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, has reportedly tried to laugh off the matter following criticisms from Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller. "We are going to make the Australians feel at home here. I'm almost putting a kangaroo out front to jump for them," he said. He also boasted that the Village was "more beautiful and better" than the one in Sydney in the 2000 Olympics. The lack of preparedness in the Olympic Vill...

2016 Rio Olympics without Russia  The IOC Executive Board (EB) has today further studied the question of the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. In its deliberations, the IOC EB was guided by a fundamental rule of the Olympic Charter to protect clean athletes and the integrity of sport. The study included the discussion of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s Independent Person (IP) Report by Prof. Richard McLaren; the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 21 July 2016 concerning the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF); as well as the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code. Given the urgency of the situation, with the Olympic Games Rio 2016 starting in 12 days, and the athletes’ entry process already underway, the IOC EB had to take a preliminary decision with regard to the participation of Russian athletes in Rio de Janeiro. Prof. McLaren states in his report that it “fulfils part...

IOC President  Thomas Bach ENTIRE Russian team of 387 athletes will be banned from competing at the Rio Olympics as punishment for their country’s state-sponsored doping programme The entire Russian Olympic team will today be banned from competing at the  Rio Games  next month, The Mail on Sunday understands. According to well-placed sources, the International Olympic Committee will punish all 387 Russian sportsmen and women in the strongest possible way after revelations of their country’s state-sponsored doping programme shocked the world. The country’s corrupt track and field stars have already been banned from the Games, and last week lost a desperate legal challenge to overturn that decision. But today’s ruling – the most momentous in Olympic history – will see Russia’s medal hopes in cycling, judo, wrestling and all other disciplines excluded from competition in the wake of the scandal. The controversy involved President Vladimir Putin’s spo...

The world waits to discover whether the Russian and Olympic flags will be flying together next month. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/EPA Last Wednesday the Russian Olympic Committee named a provisional team of 386 athletes for the Rio Games. It was, for a few hours, a triumph of hope over expectation. Then realpolitik bit hard. The next day,  that figure was scythed by 68 when the court of arbitration for sport upheld the ban on Russia’s track and field stars competing in the Olympics. Come Sunday afternoon it could be slashed even further – possibly to a handful of athletes. At midday (BST) the International Olympics Committee’s executive board will discuss what to do next with Russia. By 3pm a statement is expected to announce either a blanket ban or that each individual Olympic sports federation has the power to separately exclude Russian athletes from their competitions. Whichever way the IOC goes, there will be anger. The stakes are high. Not just for Russia, but for the Ol...