Multi-sport

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) has today (Wednesday) formed an investigation panel to look into allegations of illegal payments relating to Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Hungarian government has submitted draft legislation to support a bid from the country’s capital city of Budapest to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, while rival bidder Los Angeles has strengthened its team with the appointment of Jim Ford as senior advisor for strategic partnerships.

Paris City Council has given its approval to a new plan that aims to transform the French capital as part of the city’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored doping by dozens of Russia’s top athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has today (Tuesday) announced that up to 31 athletes from six sports could be banned from the 2016 Olympic Games following a wave of fresh testing of samples from the 2008 Games in Beijing, with president Thomas Bach stating the measures represent a “powerful strike” against drug cheats.

The Japanese city of Sapporo has revealed that it will present an initial bid plan for the 2026 winter Olympic Games to the Japanese Olympic Committee after the conclusion of this summer’s Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Brazil’s new Sports Minister, Leonardo Picciani, has denied allegations of a potential conflict of interest after it emerged that his family owns a company that has been selling gravel to construction companies working on projects for the Rio 2016 summer Olympic Games.

A metro line extension, one of the major infrastructure headaches for organisers of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, will open just four days before the Games and provide only a limited service, according to Rio de Janeiro State Transportation Secretary Rodrigo Vieira.

The French financial prosecutor’s office has today (Thursday) confirmed that it is investigating allegations of “corruption and money laundering” relating to payments of SGD$2.8m (€1.8m/$2.1m) tied to Tokyo’s victorious bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga has insisted that Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games was “clean” after a report claimed that the bidding team transferred money to a bank account linked to an individual at the centre of allegations of corruption in athletics.

Los Angeles 2024 has strengthened its bid team for the Olympic and Paralympic Games with the appointment of International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Angela Ruggiero as its chief strategy officer.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has today (Tuesday) said it will immediately probe the latest Russian doping allegations, related to the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, stating the claims offer “real cause for concern”.

Jose Mariano Beltrame, state security secretary for Rio de Janeiro, has spoken of his concerns over cuts to the Brazilian city’s budget ahead of hosting this summer’s Olympic Games, stating that the decision is likely to have an impact on police levels during the multi-sport event.

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has today (Monday) outlined part of a 43 point plan that will place sport at the very heart of the French capital and seek to leverage the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games bid as a catalyst for the reinvention of the city.

The city council of Rio de Janeiro has formed a commission to investigate whether corruption affected infrastructure projects for the 2016 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The PyeongChang Organising Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic winter Games (POCOG) has been given a legacy boost after South Korea’s government confirmed that two ice sports venues scheduled for demolition after the Games will now remain in place.

Is the saga surrounding the development of the main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games finally at an end? SportBusiness International reports.

Rio’s preparations for the 2016 Olympics have attracted plenty of negative headlines. However, has the sports industry seen it all before? Kevin Roberts reports.