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Saturday, May 25, 2013 @ 1:32pm

Pistorius investigation to be finished by August

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The police investigation into Oscar Pistorius' killing of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day won't be completed until August, prosecutors said Saturday, ahead of the double-amputee Olympian's first court appearance in nearly four months.

The National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement that it was "content with the progress thus far" of the investigation, which will have taken nearly six months by the time the state is ready to proceed with Pistorius' murder trial.

Pistorius will return to Courtroom C at Pretoria Magistrate's Court on June 4. He is expected to appear for only 10 minutes, but will give the world its first view of him since bail was granted on Feb. 22 in a hearing that lasted nearly a week and during which he cut a broken, sobbing figure as details of the shooting were aired.

The NPA expects the June 4 proceedings to be "a mere postponement" ahead of another date in August. Meanwhile, police investigators continue to collect and scrutinize evidence and identify and interview possible witnesses to Pistorius' shooting of Reeva Steenkamp at his upscale home in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14.

Since Pistorius left public view, whisked away from the court building in the back seat of an SUV with darkened windows, his defense team has successfully appealed some of his bail restrictions. He has been living at the house of his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, in an upmarket Pretoria suburb that is not far from the gated community in which he fired the shots through a toilet door that killed Steenkamp.

Pistorius denies murdering Steenkamp, claiming he mistook her for a nighttime intruder. The state says he killed the 29-year-old model and law graduate intentionally following a fight and charged the multiple Paralympic champion with premeditated murder.

But while Pistorius has been finding ways to cope "with his sense of isolation," according to a statement by his family, he faces a life sentence in prison if found guilty.

"We as the National Prosecuting Authority are content with the progress thus far on the currently continuing investigations," the NPA said, "and we anticipate ... the investigations shall be wrapped up by or before August 2013."

The NPA said the hearing would be presided over by Acting Chief Magistrate Daniel Thulare, who is not the same magistrate from the bail application.

There have been only two reported sightings of Pistorius in public since he was freed: an image of him on his carbon fiber blades walking on his practice running track, and a visit to a Johannesburg restaurant.

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Follow Gerald Imray at www.twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

LONDON (AP) - Denis Oswald declared his candidacy for IOC president Friday, becoming the fifth member and second European to enter the race to succeed Jacques Rogge.

The 66-year-old Swiss lawyer and head of the international rowing federation sent a letter to IOC members announcing his decision.

"My 40 years of service to the Olympic movement have provided me with a comprehensive understanding of our organization as well as its role and significance in the wider world," Oswald said.

"This knowledge and experience ... will enable me to advance the Olympic cause and enhance the IOC's authority as the leader of world sport."

Oswald joins a field that already includes International Olympic Committee vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico and C.K. Wu of Taiwan. Former pole vaulter Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is expected to announce his bid next week.

Rogge is stepping down in September after 12 years as president. The election is Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Oswald told members he will present his "vision and philosophy" in the coming weeks, and he scheduled a news conference for June 3 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Oswald and Bach will be vying for European support. Bach, a lawyer and former Olympic fencer, has been considered a front-runner.

Bach was the first to declare his candidacy two weeks ago, followed a week later by Ng. Carrion, chairman of the IOC finance commission, and Wu, president of the international amateur boxing association, made their bids earlier this week.

Oswald has been an IOC member since 1991. He competed in rowing at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the fours event in Mexico City in `68.

Oswald has been president of the rowing federation since 1989, with his term ending later this year. He served as head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations from 2000-2012, which gave him a place on the policy-making IOC executive board for that period.

Oswald gained standing in the IOC as chairman of the coordination commission for the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2012 London Games, a position that required oversight of all preparations.

Oswald is also a lawyer based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and has served as an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 12:45pm

AP Interview: Rogge praises wrestling's changes

LONDON (AP) - Wrestling's governing body has "reacted well" and made the necessary changes to give the sport a chance of saving its place in the Olympics, IOC President Jacques Rogge said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Rogge said FILA has dealt with the issues that led the IOC executive board in February to remove wrestling from the list of core sports for the 2020 Games.

"I think they had the good answer and the good reaction," he said. "They obviously were taken a bit by a surprise by the fact they could leave the core group."

Rogge praised the measures approved by FILA at its congress in Moscow last weekend, including rule changes to make matches more compelling and the inclusion of women and athletes in decision-making positions.

Wrestling is now competing with seven other sports for a single spot on the 2020 program. The IOC board meets next week in St. Petersburg, Russia, and will recommend one sport or a shortlist of sports for a vote by the full IOC in September.

"The federation definitely understood the reasons why they were ousted, and they reacted what they normally should have done," Rogge said. "They did a good job on that, so we'll see what the judgment is of the executive board on all of the eight sports but definitely I would say that wrestling has reacted well.

"That does not guarantee a spot in the shortlist or the single presentation. It was at least the minimum they could do and they did it. They have addressed the shortcomings. That was a good reaction.'"

Wrestling, which dates back to the ancient Olympics, remains on the sports lineup for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

New FILA President Nenad Lalovic believes the sport has done what it takes to return to the fold.

"Yes, I do think so," he told the AP on Thursday. "But there is no guarantee because the other competitors are strong. We did what we could in such a short time. I'm not sure if it's enough, but we did all that's possible. We did all that we could."

The other sports seeking inclusion in 2020 are squash, wakeboarding, karate, wushu, roller sports and a combined baseball-softball bid. Those sports officials will make presentations to the IOC board on Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

"Then we'll have a debate whether the executive board will present one single sport to the session or whether the executive board would prefer to present a shortlist to the IOC session," Rogge said.

The board members will vote by secret ballot next week on which sport or sports to submit to the IOC assembly for the final vote Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

There has been widespread speculation in Olympic circles that the board will recommend a list of three or four sports, including wrestling.

"My position is very clear," Rogge said. "Everything will happen on merit and respecting the rights of the federations."

FILA on Thursday announced the names of the five panelists who will make the presentation to the IOC: Lalovic; Jim Scherr, a former wrestler and ex-CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee; Canadian freestyle wrestler Carol Huynh, gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games and bronze winner at the 2012 London Olympics; Lise Legrand, vice president of the French wrestling federation and 2004 bronze medalist; and Daniel Igali, a Nigerian-born Canadian gold medalist in Sydney in 2000.

"These five panelists are representative of the passion, dedication and diversity of wrestling's athletes and fans around the world," Lalovic said in a statement.

The IOC decision in February to drop wrestling led to the resignation of FILA president Raphael Martinetti. Lalovic, who took over in an interim capacity, was elected fulltime president at the congress in Moscow on Saturday.

Lalovic "understood there were shortcomings both in governance but also in presentation and appeal of the sport in terms of clarity of the rules of competition and a whole range of issues that they had to change," Rogge said.

Under changes approved in Moscow, matches will consist of two 3-minute sessions instead of three 2-minute periods, and scoring will be cumulative instead of the previous two-out-of-three system. FILA also changed its constitution to include a female vice president.

"They will have an athletes' commission they did not have," Rogge said. "They will have women on board the executive board which they did not have. They will change the length of bouts to make it more clear for the public on the counting of the points. There are also a lot of technical rules that are going to be associated."

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Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 10:34am

Krzyzewski returning to coach USA Basketball

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski just couldn't pass on "the ultimate honor" of representing his country again as the U.S. men's national team coach.

Krzyzewski is returning as coach through 2016, extending a run that included leading the Americans to two straight Olympic golds while helping reshape a program that needed a jolt to keep up with the growth of international basketball.

"I really thought I wasn't going to do it," Krzyzewski said during a news conference Thursday. "But now that I am doing it, I can tell you I am doing it with 100 percent commitment and passion _ but with seven years of experience of having done it before."

Krzyzewski, 66, took over as coach as USA Basketball began its national-team program in 2005. Since then, Krzyzewski has led the U.S. men's team filled with NBA stars to Olympic gold medals in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. He also led the Americans to the gold at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and the team has a 50-game winning streak dating back to 2006.

Krzyzewski _ a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a former Army captain who also spent five years as coach at West Point _ had said several times that London would be the final stop of his international coaching career. But USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo wanted to wait on any discussion until after Krzyzewski finished his season with Duke.

His patience paid off, prompting Colangelo _ speaking by teleconference _ to say he was happy to continue what had been "a heck of a ride and a great journey."

"I'm kind of old-fashioned, I never really accepted the fact he wasn't coming back," Colangelo said. "I felt time would be what he needed in terms of a tonic to ... weigh the positives and whatever negatives there may be. I just think it's a perfect fit for him.

"I think his legacy is very much tied to USA Basketball as it is certainly is to Duke University. I could not have picked a better guy to be in that foxhole with than Coach K."

Colangelo apparently didn't miss an opportunity to persuade Krzyzewski to return. The coach said Colangelo took his wife, Mickie, to dinner as part of his push and once tried to sell him on returning over a meal of "room-service pizza and some chicken fingers."

"You got me pretty cheap," Krzyzewski quipped.

Krzyzewski said he conferred with his family before deciding to return. He has also said several times over the years that being the U.S. coach has made him better at his job at Duke, where he has won most of his 957 career victories to rank as the winningest coach in Division I men's basketball history. He's won four NCAA championships, reached 11 Final Fours and won 13 Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments with the Blue Devils.

Last year, Duke notched its 13th 30-win season before falling to eventual champion Louisville in the NCAA regional finals.

"I got better doing it," Krzyzewski said of his time as U.S. coach. "Just like a player gets better from doing it, we all got better. And that energizes you because it's like a teacher learning new material. I'm 66. I don't know how you're supposed to feel at 66. I never think of my age. ... But I feel energetic, passionate, wanting to achieve."

Krzyzewski's commitment to coach the team means he will be on the bench for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain as well as the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. His oncourt work over the next four summers begins with a team mini-camp in Las Vegas in July.

With Krzyzewski in charge, the Americans are 62-1 over the last seven years.

NBA players were first used in the 1992 Olympics and an NBA coach had always led the team during that time. But as international competition steadily improved, once-invulnerable American teams finished sixth in the 2002 FIBA World Championship then lost three times en route to a bronze in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Krzyzewski's first U.S. team ended up with a bronze during the 2006 World Championship, but has won ever since. Along the way, NBA players like LeBron James have praised Krzyzewski's work melding a collection of stars into a cohesive team.

The coach sounds eager to get started again.

"I've loved it and I think the players have loved it, and I think people can see that," Krzyzewski said. "And you want to do it again. I think people think that because we have all these guys, you just roll out the ball and you're going to win. That's a very arrogant way of looking at it, and it's that arrogance that got us into the spot we were before and thinking that no one's good."


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 2:45am

Taiwan's Wu confirms he'll run for IOC presidency

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - C.K. Wu confirmed Thursday he is running for president of the International Olympic Committee, becoming the fourth candidate and the second from Asia bidding to replace Jacques Rogge.

Wu, a 66-year-old architect from Taiwan who has been International Amateur Boxing Association president since 2006, said he is declaring his candidacy to "positively impact society."

"Now that the time has come, I am ready to step up," Wu said. "The thought and concept to develop the IOC and Olympic movement ... is the core principle of my candidature.

"The IOC and the Olympic Games have more power to positively impact society than any other organization and project in the world."

Wu joins IOC vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, and Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico as candidates in the race to replace Rogge, a Belgian orthopedic surgeon who will step down in September after 12 years.

Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is also expected to run. The election is set for Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Wu declined to speculate on his chances for election, except to say that he is popular among IOC members.

"I will do my best to convince the members that I am a capable candidate," he said.

Wu said that if his candidacy succeeds, he will make an effort to promote education as a way to combat the scourges of doping, gambling, match-fixing and violence in sports.

"I strongly urge that we concentrate more on education than ever before," he said. "I truly believe that there is no better solution to fighting against these problems than providing young people with education early on."

Wu, an IOC member since 1988, was elected to the IOC's policy-making executive board last year and was a member of the IOC coordination commissions for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and 2008 Beijing Olympics. He currently sits on the coordination panel for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Last month, Wu hosted numerous IOC members in Tianjin, China, for the opening of a museum he designed to honor late IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Last week, AIBA's executive committee recommended that Wu run for IOC president.

Wu's native Taiwan competes in the Olympics under the name Chinese Taipei, to distinguish it from mainland China. Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and while both participated in the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland, China subsequently withdrew to protest Taiwan's inclusion in the Olympics.

China returned to the Winter Games in 1980 and the Summer Games four years later after the IOC formally adopted the Chinese Taipei moniker to describe Taiwan.

Wu paid tribute to Samaranch and Rogge in a statement released Thursday.

"I truly believe that no other individual, including me, will ever be able to lead the Olympic movement the way they did. These two leaders have made of the IOC a true leading organization that contributes to offering welfare and bright hopes to every mankind," Wu said. "The days of the IOC renaissance have certainly arrived.

"Therefore, I truly believe that the IOC now needs a leader who is able to harmonize all relationships, delegate his responsibilities to the members and support them in the realization of the Olympic ideals and beyond."


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 @ 6:46am

Richard Carrion declares IOC presidential bid

LONDON (AP) - Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico entered the IOC presidential race Wednesday, promising to use his business experience to guide the Olympics through the world's troubled financial times and proposing to deploy IOC staff permanently in host cities to help organize the games.

The 60-year-old Carrion, a banking executive who chairs the IOC finance commission and has spearheaded multi-billion dollar television rights deals, became the third member to declare as a candidate for the most powerful job in the Olympic movement.

"We are at a crossroads," Carrion said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We will have to keep innovating and evolving or else we'll become less relevant. A lot of change is coming. I think I can manage in that kind of environment."

Carrion follows IOC vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore in formally announcing bids to succeed Jacques Rogge, who steps down in September after 12 years as head of the International Olympic Committee.

C.K. Wu of Taiwan, head of the international amateur boxing association, is expected to announce his candidacy on Thursday. Former pole vaulter Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is expected to follow soon, and Denis Oswald of Switzerland is likely to run and complete a six-man field.

The election will be held on Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Carrion sent a letter to all IOC members Wednesday announcing his presidential bid, along with a 14-page document laying out his platform and heralding the arrival of a "Great Olympic Era." He proposes raising the age limit for IOC members, which is currently 70.

"I have been in positions where I have maneuvered in difficult periods and I have helped safeguard the position and financial standing of the IOC as well as the revenue of the IOC," Carrion said in a telephone interview. "I have managed large complex organizations all my professional life. In difficult periods, in time of upheaval, I have done that successfully."

Carrion, an IOC member since 1990, served on the policy-making executive board from 2004-12. He has been chairman of the finance commission since 2002 and the audit commission since 2006. He serves on the coordination commission for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Carrion is also chairman and CEO of Popular Inc., the financial services company which operates Banco Popular and other banks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. He is a member of the board of directors of Verizon and a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

As the head of TV rights negotiations for regions outside of Europe, Carrion helped raise more than $8 billion in revenues. He led the negotiations that secured a record $4.38 billion deal with NBC for U.S. TV rights through 2020. He has also overseen the growth in the IOC's financial reserves over the past 10 years from $100 million to $900 million.

While his financial credentials are important, the job requires more than a top money man and needs someone passionate about the Olympic values and ideals, Carrion said.

"This is an organization based on values," he said. "I am a person that is very much attuned to financial trends but I recognize very deeply the moment we forget our values, it doesn't matter how many TV contracts you have, it doesn't matter how much money is in the bank."

Carrion said the IOC is in a strong overall position but must take action to deal with potential risks and challenges, including the financial downturn, doping, match-fixing, youth obesity and threat of natural disasters.

"Nobody was predicting the financial crisis we've been going though the past five years," he said. "It's the things that you don't know about that you have to have the leadership in place to maneuver through that environment."

Carrion proposes "insourcing" or bringing more functions directly under IOC control, as the committee has done in recent years with marketing and the Olympic Broadcasting Services. He specifically recommends putting permanent IOC management teams in place in host cities.

"We can probably do a lot more of the organizing functions with a small dedicated cadre of people that would be on site continuously and start looking at which functions we can do more efficiently and not having to reinvent the wheel," Carrion said. "We probably have to go a little further and have people on the ground that have had experience generating budgets."

Carrion said an IOC permanent presence would be useful in Rio, which has been facing delays and challenges in preparing for the 2016 Games. As a member of the coordination panel for Rio, chaired by Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, he has seen the problems up close.

"There are games that are better prepared and games that give us a little more trouble," he said. "I think in the coordination commission of Rio, Nawal has spoken directly to the president of Brazil and to the mayor. We told them of certain concerns. They're aware of it.

"It's something we will have to be on top of. I know the president (Rogge) has also made them aware. We've seen these types of situations in the past. It requires constant monitoring."

On other issues, Carrion said it was time to review some of the reforms that were enacted in 2000 in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, including the imposed age limit of 70 for IOC members. He suggests 75 would be a more appropriate retirement age.

"It's now 13 years later, it's time we look again at all of those things we passed," he said. "It's time we took a good hard look at them and review what their impact has been. Is there something we want to change? Perhaps it turns out to be a few tweaks here and there or perhaps it's something more profound."

Carrion said it's time to develop a new system for distributing Olympic revenues among the IOC, sports federations, national Olympic committees and other bodies.

"It's going to be difficult to continue increasing the revenues at the same rate for the next 10 years as we did for the past 10 years," he said. "We need to see if we can develop new sources of revenues. Given today's economic realities, it's going to force us to be more efficient. We can do more for less."

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Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 @ 5:20am

AP Interview: Rogge cites need for targeted tests

LONDON (AP) - Olympic officials agree that more targeted, out-of-competition testing in high-profile sports is needed to catch the drug cheats who are escaping the net, IOC President Jacques Rogge said Wednesday.

Rogge told The Associated Press that sports leaders who attended a summit at IOC headquarters in Switzerland concluded that better testing _ rather than more tests _ is the best way forward in the anti-doping fight.

Drug-testing strategies and the role of the World Anti-Doping Agency were discussed at a meeting of Olympic leaders Tuesday in Lausanne.

While the IOC declined to release details on Tuesday, Rogge said in an interview that all sides agreed on the need for greater unannounced out-of-competition testing.

"There should be more targeted testing with athletes that might be considered as being suspicious," he said by telephone. "Top sports should be targeted more than others because of the effect of doping on their performances, and the prevalence of doping. All of that was discussed and definitely will lead to an implementation."

IOC officials have expressed concern that, despite the large number of tests carried around the world, the system is failing to catch serious doping offenders.

"Quantitatively, there was no call to do more testing because there is already 250,000 tests a year," Rogge said. "But qualitatively, (there was a call) to make better use of this testing, do more out of competition and definitely more targeting, both of the athletes and the sports."

Rogge chaired Tuesday's meeting, which was attended by the four vice presidents of the IOC and leaders of international sports federations, national Olympic committees and other key groups.

The main topic was the role of WADA, which some sports bodies complain has gone beyond its mandate and unfairly criticized the federations. The meeting was requested by the summer sports federations in February following public spats between WADA and the International Cycling Union over the Lance Armstrong doping case.

"It was the opportunity for the members of the stakeholders _ the NOCs, the IFs, the athletes commissions _ to vent their ideas and their feelings," Rogge said. "We decided not to make a press release because these were informal discussions without an official point of view.

"It was a very good atmosphere. People could express their views. I definitely think it will lead to very good collaboration with WADA."

Pat McQuaid, president of cycling's governing body, and predecessor Hein Verbruggen attended. No WADA representative was invited.

WADA was set up by the IOC in 1999 to lead the global anti-doping fight. The IOC and Olympic movement provide 50 percent of WADA's annual budget.

WADA is due to elect a new president in November, replacing former Australian government minister John Fahey. The new president will be nominated from the Olympic movement.

"We are defining the wish list of the sports movement toward the fight against doping that we are going to give to the new leadership in November," Rogge said.

Last week, former WADA president Dick Pound submitted a report to the agency detailing the ineffectiveness of the current drug-testing system.

Despite increased testing and scientific advances to detect more sophisticated substances, Pound said drug cheats are getting away scot-free because of a lack of will among sports organizations, governments and athletes.

The report cited statistics showing that, of 250,000 drug tests per year, less than 1 percent produce positive findings for serious doping substances.

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Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

SOCHI, Russia (AP) - The mountains of Sochi are now home to Potanin's slope, Gazprom's gondola lift and Sberbank's ski jump. The nicknames used by locals and an army of construction workers leave no doubt about who is paying for the 2014 Winter Games: Russia's business powerhouses.

Other countries that have hosted the Olympics have overwhelmingly used public funds to pay for the construction of needed venues and new infrastructure. The Russian government, however, has gotten state-controlled companies and tycoons to foot more than half of the bill, which now stands at $51 billion and makes the 2014 Winter Games by far the most expensive Olympics in history. In contrast, the much-larger 2012 Summer Olympics in London cost about $14.3 billion and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing cost about $40 billion.

For President Vladimir Putin, the games have been a matter of pride. He has entrusted the country's top businessmen with Sochi's key projects. He himself is spending increasing amounts of time in the southern Russian city, hosting world leaders at his luxurious presidential palace.

Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister under Putin, described the tycoons' participation as a sort of tax imposed by the president.

"If you want to carry on doing business in Russia, here's the tax you need to pay _ the kind of a tax that he wants you to pay," Kasyanov, now an opposition leader, told The Associated Press.

This is particularly true of those like metals tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, who made their fortunes in the rags-to-riches privatizations after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. For others who have grown fabulously wealthy since Putin came to power in 2000, the 2014 Olympics have been a chance to reap the profits through lucrative state contracts.

Most of the projects the tycoons are involved in are not profitable _ and many businessmen are making no secret of the losses they are incurring. But anyone who does business in Russia today is acutely aware of the importance of maintaining good relations with the government _ and especially with Putin. The tycoons remember well how Putin in 2008, with one verbal attack, sent the stock of metals company Mechel tumbling 40 percent, cutting $6 billion from its shareholder value.

"Russian big business is heavily dependent on the government and often has to follow Putin's requests and take on projects that are important for top officials," said Vladimir Milov, an economist and former deputy energy minister who also is now part of the anti-Putin opposition.

The tycoons and state-owned companies dismiss claims that they were pressured to invest in Sochi or that they did so in exchange for promises of preferential treatment.

Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer and a publicly traded company, said in a written statement to the AP that its work in Sochi is "both a business project and serious social responsibility." Gazprom's Sochi projects are vast. It is building a pipeline to bring gas supplies to the Sochi area, a power station in a Sochi suburb, an Alpine ski resort, one of the three Olympic villages and a cross-country skiing and biathlon center. Its total costs run to $3 billion.

Andrei Elinson, deputy general director at Deripaska's Basic Element investment vehicle, insists its Sochi projects were all designed to be profitable. The company is building an Olympic village and a seaport and has just finished revamping the Sochi airport, for a combined cost of $1.4 billion.

"We are a strategic investor in the area. We believe in the development of the area on the whole," Elinson said. After the games, Basic Element plans to convert the Olympic village into apartments and the sea port into a marina.

Even so, some tycoons are grumbling that they have been hit up with unexpected demands that are stretching their funds more than anticipated. Their balance sheets have been dragged down by a flow of requests from the state contractor Olimpstroi to build more infrastructure than originally planned.

Potanin started building his Roza Khutor ski resort even before Sochi was picked in 2007 to host the 2014 games. He is spending $2.5 billion, including $500 million on infrastructure required by the International Olympic Committee. In addition, the Alpine resort had to close to tourists for months at a time while hosting Olympic tests events during the past two winter seasons, costing it $3.2 million in lost revenue each month it was closed, according to Roza Khutor general director Sergei Bachin.

When Potanin's Interros holding company first committed to the games, "we had no idea what exactly would be required from us," Bachin said. Now delivering everything on time has become "a matter of honor," he said. Still, looking back, Bachin said Roza Khutor should not have been so compliant.

"When we were asked to build this or that, we were probably too yielding in taking up those requests," he said.

Potanin was the first to raise his voice. Last year he said he expected the Russian government to compensate him for at least the $500 million he is spending doing work that he said should have been the government's responsibility.

Roza Khutor has asked the government to create a special economic zone in the Sochi area. Tax rebates would allow the resort to be "operationally sound" and help it repay loans to the state-owned VEB bank more quickly, Bachin said.

The frustrations have been shared by Deripaska's Basic Element, which is suing Olimpstroi for about $50 million, the amount it had to fork out when Olimpstroi questioned the quality of the gravel used to protect the coast at the sea port. Deripaska's company also complained that the sea port it built is receiving only 20 percent of the cargo load that had been promised by the government, leaving revenues far lower than expected.

"It's pretty frustrating," Elinson said. "But we think it's curable if the government takes certain responsibly for those actions and comes up with a solution that would allow the project and the investor to recover."

He said at this stage all investors are concerned about the additional costs they have faced in Sochi.

Last month, Basic Element, Interros, Gazprom and state-owned Sberbank asked the government for help in covering some of their losses. Although there has not been an official response to the plea, the government has said in the past that investors bear full responsibility for any losses.

"Those are the risks of those who made the decision," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is overseeing the Sochi preparation, said in response to complaints last year.

In contrast to the Boris Yeltsin-era oligarchs like Deripaska and Potanin who are involved in capital-consuming projects with uncertain commercial prospects, the new generation of billionaires with close ties to Putin seems actually to be making money in Sochi.

One man who stands to profit from the games is Arkady Rotenberg, who has known Putin since he was 12.

Through a majority-owned subsidiary, Rotenberg holds nearly 39 percent of the Mostotrest company, which has amassed a dozen Olympics-related state contracts to build nearly all of the highways in the area. Its projects include a $1.6 billion bypass for Sochi, as well as tunnels, bridges and railroads for a total of at least $3.4 billion.

"Those who became billionaires before Putin's rise to power now have to pay the price, and that's why they're being forced to invest and build," Kasyanov said. "Those of Putin's generation are out there to make money. They use public funds. They don't invest their own money but simply work on state contracts."

One Russian businessman in charge of an Olympic project was publicly disgraced when he failed to deliver. On a tour of Olympic sites in February, Putin harshly scolded officials for the huge delays and cost overruns in building the ski jump, a project run by real estate developer Akhmed Bilalov, who had once owned 90 percent of it. The state-controlled Sberbank had taken a controlling stake in 2012 when it was clear the project was in trouble, and Bilalov's younger brother handed over the remaining 40 percent stake after Putin's televised dressing down.

Bilalov was immediately stripped of his position as a vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, but Putin still was not done with him. In April, prosecutors charged Bilalov with abuse of office in relation to his work as chairman of a state company that is building ski resorts elsewhere in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. Facing up to four years in prison if convicted, Bilalov left Russia.

At least one company has already acknowledged the futility of its investment in Sochi.

During his inspection tour in February, Putin asked the chairman of mining giant UGMK, Andrei Bokarev, whether he would give the new $100 million hockey arena that UGMK has built to the state after the games.

"There's nothing standing in the way of you doing it," Putin commented.

That was not a direct order but its intent was clear.

Putting aside previous pledges that the stadium would be dismantled after the Sochi games and moved near an UGMK facility to benefit the company's workers, Bokarev responded with gusto to the suggestion.

"We're ready!" he said.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Sunday, May 19, 2013 @ 11:37pm

Who is building what in Sochi for 2014 Olympics

SOCHI, Russia (AP) - The cost of the 2014 Winter Games in the Russian city of Sochi now stands at $51 billion, making it the most expensive Olympics in history. More than half of the bill is being footed by Russian state-controlled companies and business tycoons. A look at what the major players are building in Sochi:

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

The government is building five of the six arenas in the coastal cluster, which will host indoor competitions such as ice skating, for about $10 billion. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is overseeing the Sochi preparations, said the government will spend a total of about $18 billion before the games begin in February 2014.

GAZPROM

The world's largest natural gas producer, a publicly traded company, has many Olympic projects in Sochi, including building a cross-country skiing and biathlon center, one of the three Olympic villages and an Alpine ski resort. Gazprom is also building a power station in a Sochi suburb for about $740 million and a pipeline to bring gas supplies to the Sochi area for about $1 billion. The total price tag for Gazprom stands at roughly $3 billion.

POTANIN

Metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin, whose fortune is estimated at $14.3 billion, started building the Roza Khutor ski resort before Sochi was picked to hold the 2014 Olympics. Infrastructure required by the International Olympic Committee cost $500 million, boosting his total bill in Sochi to $2.5 billion. In addition to the Alpine ski runs at Roza Khutor, Potanin's holding company, Interros, has built an Olympic village and a snowboarding and freestyle park.

DERIPASKA

Metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska, estimated to be worth $8.5 billion, is mainly involved in infrastructure development in Sochi. His holding company, Basic Element, is building an Olympic village, a sea port and has just finished revamping the Sochi airport. Basic Element expects to spend a total of $1.4 billion in Sochi.

SBERBANK

The state-controlled bank is set to spend at least $1.3 billion building a media center in Sochi, as well as a ski jump complex.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 3:23pm

Column: Restore wrestling, give others fair shot

(AP) - Wrestling is heeding the harshest of wakeup calls.

Now it's time for the International Olympic Committee to do the right thing.

Put this most historic of sports back on the program for the 2020 Summer Games.

Assuming the governing body, known as FILA, follows through on major steps Friday _ simplifying the rules, settling on a new leader, pressing forward with ways to make the sport more hip and exciting for fans _ there's no reason for wrestling to compete with seven other sports vying to get on the Olympic program.

Besides, those other sports _ squash, karate, roller sport, wushu, sport climbing, wakeboarding and a combined baseball-softball bid _ all deserve a fair shot at the one available spot, which they may not get because of the justifiable outcry over wrestling's exclusion.

"Maybe we can share a venue with wrestling," joked Andrew Shelley, the CEO of World Squash.

All quips aside, this would be a good time for the IOC to re-examine its rules that allow a maximum of 28 federations into the Summer Games, an arbitrary guideline that was supposed to hold down the size, scope and cost of the Olympics (how's that working out?) but turned into one of the biggest stumbles of outgoing President Jacques Rogge's regime.

In the eyes of the IOC, aquatics is considered to be one sport because swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water are governed by a single federation. But it's actually five sports.

Yet the related _ but distinctly different _ disciplines within martial arts are ruled by separate organizations, which explains how judo and taekwondo are Olympic sports, karate and wushu are not.

Most of the focus at the moment is on wrestling's bid to remain on the program past the 2016 Rio Games after the IOC stunningly gave it the boot in February, throwing it into the pool of wannabe sports for 2020.

From a purely athletic standpoint, it was a decision that made absolutely no sense. There's history: Wrestling is one of the few sports that can say it's been part of the Olympics since ancient Greece. There's universality: While Russia and the United States are two of the biggest powerhouses, the competition in London drew 71 nations _ 29 of which claimed medals.

Yet the IOC, ticked at FILA's resistance to doing anything progressive and clear arrogance that its place in the Olympics was secure, gave wrestling the heave-ho while keeping the obscure sport of modern pentathlon, which tests the skills needed by a 19th-century cavalry officer.

"Wrestling failed to keep its sport properly modern," conceded Stan Dziedzic, a FILA vice president and 1976 Olympic medalist. "We did a very poor job there."

Even so, the decision sparked outrage around the globe. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to do what he could to overturn it. The U.S. and Iran, two nations that rarely agree on anything, became wrestling allies. Supporters took their campaign to social media, unleashing countless tweets (hash tag: SaveOlympicWrestling) and setting up a Facebook page that has grown to more than 92,000 backers.

Dziedzic told The Associated Press that the governing body reached agreement on several points ahead of Saturday's special meeting in Moscow, most notably getting former President Raphael Martinetti to drop his bid to regain the job. Acting President Nenad Lalovic is the only candidate who'll be considered when FILA votes on a successor, considered a key step in repairing relations with the IOC.

The federation also is expected to approve some significant rules changes, such as switching from three two-minute periods to two three-minute periods, having the winner determined by total points rather than who wins the most periods (which led to a wrestler with fewer points sometimes winning the match), and eliminating the reviled overtime rule used in freestyle, known as "The Clinch," which put one wrestler at a severe disadvantage.

More important will be the changes to come. For now, FILA won't be acting on radical proposals to change the look of the sport, from replacing uniforms known as singlets with tight-fitting T-shirts and shorts (a change that likely would make more youngsters comfortable about trying the sport) to jazzing up meets with loud music and flashy lights, more in line with a professional boxing or mixed martials arts event.

"None of us is qualified to do that," Dziedzic said. "The object is to hire a professional public relations firm to help us improve the pageantry and drama in our presentation at events."

A bit troubling is that FILA isn't ready to act on one of its most pressing problems: getting more women and athletes involved in running the sport. But Dziedzic said the federation is committed to revamping its constitution over the next year to come in compliance with IOC guidelines, as well as moving toward more gender equity on the mat. That will likely mean six women's freestyle events at the next Olympics, while the number of men's divisions is reduced from seven to six in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

"We had heated discussions around the governance issue," Dziedzic said in a phone call from Moscow. "That won't be completely solved here."

The 15-member IOC board will decide if wrestling has done enough to remain on the road to re-inclusion when it meets May 29-31 in St. Petersburg, Russia. At that point, three of the eight sports are likely to be forwarded to the full IOC assembly, which meets in September at Buenos Aires to pick one of them.

We'd like to see the IOC take a more radical path:

_ Restore wrestling without another vote.

_ Dump modern pentathlon (sorry, 19th-century cavalry officers no longer needed).

_ Add karate and wushu to the Olympic martial arts, assuming those federations can agree with judo and taekwondo _ no easy task _ on a compressed format that keeps the total number of athletes the same and can be held at one venue over the 16-day schedule.

_ Approve squash, roller sport and baseball-softball, with a few caveats to the latter two proposals.

Baseball and softball have said they can use one venue to cut costs, but baseball should make a big push to get major leaguers on the field. Perhaps a pre-Olympic tournament could be held at the end of the spring training, with the top four nations advancing to a brief Olympic tournament that essentially would replace the All-Star break every four years, requiring no interruption of the season. If MLB won't agree to that, then only softball should be added.

Roller sport should hold track events and skateboarding on the infield of the cycling velodrome, which would give those expensive venues more bang for their bucks. At London, a velodrome that cost more than $150 million was used for just six days.

Finally, squash should be a no-brainer. With temporary glass courts, it can be held at iconic venues that would provide a perfect backdrop for all-mighty television (events have been held everywhere from Grand Central Station to the Great Pyramids). The top players come from nations such as Malaysia and Egypt that aren't traditional Olympic powerhouses, spreading the scope of the games. The proposed format _ 32 men, 32 women competing over six days _ would put minimal stress on an organizing committee.

"We believe we've got a sport that can add value to the Olympics," Shelley said Friday.

No argument there.

If only it was that simple.

___

Paul Newberry in a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or http://www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

___

AP Sports Writers Luke Meredith in Des Moines, Iowa, and Rachel Cohen in New York contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 @ 1:43pm

Pound: Drug-testing failing due to lack of will

LONDON (AP) - Former WADA president Dick Pound has written a report for the World Anti-Doping Agency assessing the current state of drug-testing. It doesn't paint a pretty picture.

Despite increased testing and scientific advances to detect more sophisticated substances, Pound said anti-doping programs are failing. Drug cheats are getting away scot-free because of a lack of will among sports organizations, governments and athletes.

In his report to WADA and in an interview with The Associated Press, Pound blamed the failings on "human and political factors" and called out sports federations, the IOC and WADA itself for not doing enough to catch serial dopers like Lance Armstrong.

He said the whole system is undermined by bickering among different groups, political interference, conflicts of interest and lack of incentives for nabbing drug offenders.

"There are clearly many systemic, organizational and human reasons why the drug-testing programs have been generally unsuccessful in detecting dopers/cheats," Pound wrote in the report submitted to the WADA executive committee and foundation board in Montreal last weekend.

"There is no general appetite to undertake the effort and expense of a successful effort to deliver doping-free sport," the report adds.

Pound chaired a five-person working group which produced the 26-page report entitled "Lack of Effectiveness of Testing Programs." It carries weight considering that Pound served as WADA's first chairman from 1999-2008. The Canadian is also a senior member of the International Olympic Committee.

"It ought to be a wakeup call," Pound told the AP. "It ought to be a call to arms. We'll see what kind of response we get from the stakeholders. It will be on their heads if they don't respond properly."

The report, which includes numerous recommendations, is being sent to all the client groups and will be up for consideration at WADA's meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September _ two months before the world doping conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Pound singled out the Armstrong case as a prime example of how the system isn't working. The American cyclist escaped detection for years before finally admitting that he doped while winning the Tour de France seven times.

"Armstrong is tested north of 300 times while taking all this stuff and never tested positive," Pound said by telephone from Montreal. "How is that possible?"

The report points out that the number of doping controls carried out around the world has increased significantly over the years and testing methods have improved _ yet, that has not resulted in more cheats being caught.

The report cites statistics showing that, of 250,000 drug tests per year, less than 1 percent produce positive findings for serious doping substances. That's despite intelligence suggesting the rate of cheating is much higher.

"If you're conservative and believe that 10 percent are doping, four out of every five athletes who are doping are not getting picked up by these tests," Pound said in the interview. "Why is that?"

"The elephant in the room is the human factor, not the science, not the system," he said. "The fact is, there is no concerted will on the part of virtually all the stakeholders to do what is necessary."

Pound complained that athletes don't speak out against doping, national and international federations are weak on the issue, national agencies are under the influence of governments, and governments have no incentive to catch their own nationals.

"The whole system is perpetuated that way," he said.

According to the report, anti-doping organizations focus too much on the quantity of tests, rather than the quality and effectiveness. It said sports bodies, including the IOC, "take public, but false, comfort" from the large number of tests, which are predictable.

"It's like the IOC suddenly announcing it's going to do 5,000 tests before London," Pound said. "So nobody's under any particular element of surprise and you can miss two tests simply by not answering the door if you're on something."

The report also cites a "lack of inclination on the part of WADA to name and shame" sports federations which don't comply with anti-doping rules; a lack of widespread testing for EPO, insulin and growth hormone; opposition to testing programs by players' unions; different rules for team and individual sports; and doping control officers being threatened and bribed.

Disputes over WADA's role are also hindering the ant-doping effort, with the agency "viewed as an irritant, surrounded by stakeholders, some of which are self-interested or conflicted organizations," the report said.

"The international federations still think WADA is a service organization for their benefit," Pound said. "It was never intended to be that at all. The international federations think it's WADA's responsibility to do their work, except they don't want WADA to do the work."

Governments, which provide 50 percent of WADA's funding, have shown waning interest, with many sending civil servants instead of ministers to the meetings, the report said.

The report said WADA must be the "designated leader, coordinator and monitor" of the anti-doping movement. To do that, it should reduce its research and education programs and focus on testing and compliance.

WADA's main thrust should be monitoring compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code, which came into force in 2004 and sets out rules for all athletes, sports and countries, the report said.

"We've got compliance standards that are completely meaningless," Pound said. "They don't measure effectiveness. They only measure quantity."

The report said WADA should be able to impose interim sanctions on a sport which is found to be non-compliant with the code. If the sport remains non-compliant, "appropriate action" should be taken. Under IOC rules, compliance with the code is mandatory for sports in the Olympics.

Pound said the IOC should live up to the rules and kick out any sport which falls short.

"If you're not compliant, then there should be consequences," he said. "Every time somebody gets close and you say, `Maybe we should take road (cycling) racing off the program for a while,' out comes the IOC wringing their hands and saying, `Oh dear, we can't punish innocent athletes for the failure of a few.'

"You need some tough love here. You need some peer pressure."

The report recommends mandatory use of the biological passport program, which monitors an athlete's blood profile over time to look for signs of cheating. Track and field, swimming and cycling are among sports using the system.

Other recommendations include: encouraging "whistle-blowing" so athletes and others can come forward with information without fearing harsh punishments; ensuring that doping samples can be removed from a country without interference or tampering; EPO tests should be included in all testing programs; and pre-emptive target testing should be allowed in team sports.

___

Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 10:15am

AP sources: Singapore member eyes IOC presidency

LONDON (AP) - IOC Vice President Ng Ser Miang of Singapore is set to become the second declared candidate in the race to succeed Jacques Rogge as IOC president.

Ng will announce his candidacy in Paris on Thursday, several officials with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement hasn't been made yet.

Rogge, who succeeded Juan Antonio Samaranch in 2001, steps down Sept. 10 after 12 years in charge of the International Olympic Committee. The officials told the AP that Ng was in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday to notify Rogge of his decision.

German IOC Vice President Thomas Bach announced his candidacy last Thursday in Frankfurt. Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, C.K. Wu of Taiwan and Sergei Bubka of Ukraine are among other likely contenders.

Ng, who chaired the organizing committee of the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010, has been an IOC member since 1998. He has served on the policy-making executive board since 2005 and as a vice president since 2009. He has been Singapore's ambassador to Norway since 2001 and is a former vice president of the international sailing federation.

The 64-year-old Ng will be seen as a candidate from Asia, a continent with growing economic, political and sports influence on the world stage.

Bach, a 59-year-old German lawyer, has been considered the front-runner in the IOC race. The former Olympic fencing gold medalist has served on the IOC executive board as a regular member or vice president since 1996.

The official deadline for candidacies is June 10, exactly three months before the election in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

An unofficial election campaign has been going on for months, with Bach, Ng and other prospective candidates traveling the world to attend various Olympic gatherings.

An announcement is likely by the end of the month from Carrion, a former executive board member who heads the IOC's finance and audit commissions.

Bubka is the former pole vault champion who still holds the world record. Wu is president of the international amateur boxing federation, AIBA.

On Tuesday, AIBA executive director Ho Kim sent a letter to federation members saying the executive committee recommended that Wu run for the IOC presidency.

Two Swiss members, Rene Fasel and Denis Oswald, have been weighing their options. Fasel is president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Oswald is the former longtime head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. It is unlikely both will run.

___

Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

ROME (AP) - Longtime IOC member Mario Pescante of Italy has endorsed Thomas Bach's bid to become the next president of the Olympic body.

A day after declaring his candidacy for IOC president, Bach attended a ceremony in Rome Friday marking the Italian Olympic Academy's 25th anniversary.

Academy founder Pescante called Bach the guest of honor, saying "it's our hope that in September he can become the new IOC president."

Pescante adds that the German "is a friend of Italian sport and maybe that's why he wanted to begin his complicated and ambitious challenge here in Rome among friends. ... Italian sport will be by your side."

Bach, an IOC vice president, is considered the front-runner in the race to succeed Jacques Rogge, who steps down in September.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Thursday, May 9, 2013 @ 4:49am

Thomas Bach announces IOC presidential candidacy

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Thomas Bach became the first member to declare as a candidate for IOC president on Thursday, saying his long experience in the Olympic movement makes him "well prepared" for one of the most powerful jobs in sports.

Bach, an IOC vice president, is considered the front-runner in the race to succeed Jacques Rogge, who steps down in September after 12 years as leader of the International Olympic Committee.

The 59-year-old German lawyer, a 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing, said he notified Rogge and fellow IOC members of his intention to run on Wednesday. He said he will formally submit his candidacy in June under the motto "Unity in Diversity."

"I didn't want to keep other (IOC) members in the dark any longer," Bach said at a news conference. "I think it is the right time."

Bach, who had been widely expected to run for president, is seen as the favorite among a possible half dozen candidates.

"I am humbly aware of the magnitude of the task of an IOC president," Bach said. "At the same time, in honorary positions and throughout my professional career, I have gained a wealth of management and leadership experience in national and international sports, economics, politics, law and society.

"This is why I feel well prepared."

The German has served on the policy-making IOC executive board as a regular member or vice president since 1996. As chairman of the IOC juridical commission, Bach leads most of the investigations into doping cases. He also heads the German Olympic Sports Confederation, DOSB.

"My election would be a recognition for German sport," he said.

Bach said he will officially enter as a candidate by the June 10 deadline, exactly three months before the Sept. 10 election in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"German sport is behind Mr. Bach," DOSB general director Michael Vesper said. "He is an excellent candidate. ... He has demonstrated that he is a real team captain, who seeks dialogue."

An unofficial election campaign has been going on for months, with Bach and other prospective candidates traveling the world to attend various Olympic gatherings to talk to members.

Singapore's Ng Ser Miang, another IOC vice president, is expected to announce his candidacy soon. Richard Carrion, a former executive board member from Puerto Rico, is another likely leading contender.

Ng led the organizing committee for the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. Carrion heads the IOC's finance and audit commissions and led negotiations that secured a record $4.38 billion deal with NBC for U.S. TV rights through 2020.

Other likely contenders include Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, the former pole vault champion who still holds the world record in the event, and C.K. Wu of Taiwan, head of the international amateur boxing federation.

Two Swiss members, Rene Fasel and Denis Oswald, have been weighing their options. Fasel is president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Oswald is the former longtime head of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. It's unlikely both will run.

Nawal El Moutawakel, the Moroccan who won a gold medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has also considered a possible run but members say they do not expect her to be a candidate.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wilson in London contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 6:08am

Japan's PM would applaud Istanbul 2020 win

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he would be "the first to applaud" if Istanbul is chosen to host the 2020 Olympics.

Tokyo and Madrid are also bidding for the games. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Abe during his visit to Turkey on Friday.

Abe appeared to be trying to make amends for remarks by the governor of Tokyo, Naoki Inose, who suggested in an interview with the New York Times that Istanbul was less developed and less equipped to host the games than the Japanese capital.

Inose was quoted as saying "the only thing (Muslim countries) share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other, and they have classes."

The governor later apologized and Turkey said it accepted the apology.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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