Multi-sport

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has today (Friday) revealed the results of its latest wave of doping re-tests with 45 more athletes – including 23 medallists – caught in reanalysis of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has labelled today’s ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the eligibility of Russian athletes for the 2016 Olympic Games as “biased” and “humiliating” for sports as officials lashed out at the verdict ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision on whether to impose a blanket ban.

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board has today (Tuesday) commenced disciplinary action against officials named in the McLaren Investigation Report into widespread doping in Russian sport, adding it will “carefully evaluate” its legal options surrounding a blanket ban of Russian athletes for the 2016 Olympic Games as well as withdrawing backing for any sports event or meeting in the country under additional provisional measures.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has recommended that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) should consider banning all Russian athletes entered for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged officials named in Monday’s McLaren Investigation Report will be suspended.

A number of anti-doping agencies, including those in the United States and Canada, have said they want a blanket ban on Russia competing at the 2016 Olympic Games if a key report into allegations of state-sponsored doping at Sochi’s 2014 winter Olympics is damning in its content.

Two venues which will be used to stage events during the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are to be investigated by state prosecutors after the means by which firms were hired to construct them were brought into question.

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson has expressed his concern the sport’s fledgling bid to secure a place on the Olympic programme may have become more difficult due to the negativity surrounding golf’s place at the Games.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has warned that opponents of Rome’s bid for the 2024 summer Olympics will be held responsible by the “citizens and the country” if they are successful in blocking the city from hosting the Games.

Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping agency (Wada), has said that Russia must do “much more” to combat issues relating to doping within its professional athletics sector, but acknowledged that the country is making progress.

Brazilian Sports Minister Leonardo Picciani expects the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to reinstate accreditation of a key anti-doping laboratory in Rio ahead of the summer Olympic Games in the city.

The All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) has named the 68 athletes it is seeking to send to the 2016 Olympic Games if its ban from international track and field is lifted, with the list including a triple jumper who has previously served a doping ban.

Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor, Eduardo Paes, has lashed out at state officials over the policing of violent crime, stating they are doing a “terrible, horrible job” as the clock counts down to the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The dispute over whether Russian track and field athletes can compete at the Rio 2016 summer Olympic Games will be settled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

As the national broadcaster for the host country at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the BBC set the bar high.

Back in 1960 Olympic broadcast rights sold for $1.2m. Now, with thousands of hours of quality content on a range of platforms, leading broadcasters contribute billions of dollars to the IOC coffers. Kevin Roberts reports.

Olympic Broadcasting Services is the host broadcast organisation set up in 2001 by the IOC to ensure consistency and quality of delivery of the Games to rightsholding broadcasters worldwide. Here Mark Wallace, chief content officer at OBS, answers key questions about the massive Rio 2016 broadcast operation.