International Olympic Committee

With approximately six months to go before the showpiece, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the Coronavirus a global health emergency.  The epicenter of the outbreak is the Chinese City of Wuhan where over 10,000 people have been infected.  The virus has also spread to 20 other countries, including Japan, where 17 people have been infected.

The Tokyo Olympic organisers have, however, insisted that having been in contact with the WHO and insisted they were “not considering” canceling the Olympics and Paralympics.  The IOC has revealed that various countermeasures were already being examined.

“Countermeasures against infectious diseases constitute an important part of Tokyo 2020’s plans to host a safe and secure Games,” the IOC said in a statement.

“Tokyo 2020 will continue to collaborate with all relevant organisations which carefully monitor any incidence of infectious diseases and will review any countermeasures.”

The outbreak has already affected other scheduled competitions, including the Olympic qualifying tournament in China.  Women’s football has been moved to Australia and basketball to Serbia.  The Asian-Oceania boxing qualifiers have been moved to Jordan.  The World Indoor Championships, which were to have been held in Nanjing in March, were postponed for a year.

With the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set to deliberate new sports to be welcomed into the fold, cricket is said to be among those being strongly considered for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

According to reports, men’s and women’s Twenty20 cricket is heavily favoured to make the cut to become an Olympic sport for just the second time since the 1900 Paris Games, as IOC president Thomas Bach is reportedly a big fan of bringing the sport on board, given its mass appeal in countries such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Those three nations are by no means world-beaters in other Olympic sports, but if cricket was included for 2028, the tournament would no doubt command the attention of sports enthusiasts, especially with England, Australia and New Zealand, expected to be involved.

However, it is understood that organisers would only allow cricket at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles under the condition that flag football –a non-contact version of American football –would also be added to the Games.

Still, Samuda believes cricket being considered is a win, in and of itself for the sport, and if it does in fact get included in the 2028 multi-sport showpiece, the move could have a far-reaching impact on Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, especially at a time when there are overwhelming concerns about the failure of West Indies cricket.

“The JOA welcomes discussions on the inclusion of cricket on the agenda for the LA 2028 Olympic Games as an expression, not only of inclusivity, but also of global sport maturing in response to diversity and imperative of engaging a fraternity which has, as others, become highly commercial,” Samuda said.

“A sporting, but also, a cultural institution in the lives of West Indians, a name historically inherited with colonialism which geopolitical historians now show a preference for the Caribbean.

“Cricket’s inclusion will give the sport in Jamaica and the Caribbean a well needed fillip and an opportunity for capital to commercialize the sport for its own sustainability without compromising Olympic values, for at the JOA, we celebrate character and merit as pre-requisite to rewarding monetarily,” he told Sportsmax.tv.

The number of sports contested at the Olympic Games has rapid increased in recent times.

With the addition of golf, some 38 sports were played at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, but that number jumped to 46 at the Tokyo Games, as 3x3 basketball, BMX, karate, rugby sevens, baseball, softball, skateboarding, surfing and speed climbing were all added.

The number will drop to 45 for next year’s Paris Games with the culling of baseball/softball and karate, while breakdancing has been included for the first time.

Twenty20 cricket already enjoyed somewhat of a test run at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with an eight-team women’s tournament.

Barbados was a part of that historic tournament which saw Australia, India, and New Zealand, winning the medals.

On that note, Samuda weighed in on the views of whether Jamaica and other Caribbean islands would compete individually or collectively under the West Indies umbrella.

“The debate as to whether the Caribbean should compete as individual countries, as obtained in the Olympic movement, or collectively as the West Indies, should consider that independence encourages the development of talent and accentuates a national identity and pride which are priceless qualities of nationhood,” Samuda shared.

“As small as we are in the Caribbean with bigger countries having an unfair numerical advantage, our instincts at surviving and our ability to do so admirably, has been demonstrated in other sport such as football and track and field,” he added.

In any case, Samuda pointed out that once the business model of the sport is properly aligned with the prospects, then the potential exists for positive spinoffs, financial and otherwise, from a qualifying tournament alone.

“Cricket still has the ability of mass appeal and its inclusion in the Olympic Games will serve to deepen its capital, and the playing of qualifying tournaments, if the sport’s business model is right, will heighten interest across generations and gender and attract investment,” he reasoned.

“Sport is a qualitative investment in the human capital and there are many social and cultural values that can be learnt at the crease over and above the boundaries of sport,” the JOA president noted.

Athletics’ international federation announced on Wednesday that it would be the first sport to offer Olympic prize money in Games history, with winners in the 48 disciplines to receive US$50,000 (£39,400).

Coe said World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon had given the IOC the heads-up about the announcement on Wednesday morning but confirmed the initiative had not been discussed with the IOC in advance.

Asked whether that approach should be seen as surprising, Coe said: “I don’t think so. It’s a matter for the sport.

“The one thing the International Olympic Committee has consistently recognised – and they’re right to – is the primacy of international federations to fashion their own futures.

“I don’t believe this is remotely at variance with the concept that the International Olympic Committee often talks about, which is recognising the efforts that our competitors make.

“I am hoping the IOC would share in this principle, given their avowed commitment to make sure that revenues raised through the Olympic Movement find their way back onto the front line. I think they make the point that 80 or 90 per cent of that goes back.”

The IOC has been contacted for comment.

A total prize pot of US$2.4 million (£1.89m) has been ringfenced by World Athletics for Paris, with the federation committed to introducing prize money for silver and bronze medallists from the Los Angeles 2028 Games onwards.

Some of the early social media reaction to World Athletics’ announcement was that the concept of prize money ran counter to the Olympic spirit of amateurism.

Coe said he had “no concern” in that respect, adding: “Introducing prize money for gold medallists acknowledges that the athletes are the reason that billions of people watch the Games and why it attracts such high revenues.

“I am probably the last generation to have been on the 75 pence meal voucher and second class rail fare competing for my country.

“I do understand the nature of the transition we’ve been in and we’re now operating in a completely different landscape, a completely different planet, from when I was competing.

“So it is very important that this sport recognises the change in that landscape and the added pressures on competitors.”

The US$50,000 gold medal prize will be split between the winning team in relay events.

In an announcement on Wednesday, World Athletics stated that gold medal winners at this summer’s Paris Olympic Games, in each of the 48 athletic events, will receive US$50,000 (J$7.6 million). That same US$50,000 gold medal prize will be shared among team members of the winning team in relay events.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said the decision to award the cash prizes reflected the efforts of track and field athletes “which attract billions of eyeballs” to the television coverage of the Olympics.

“I don’t believe this is remotely at variance with the concept that the International Olympic Committee often talks about, which is recognising the efforts that our competitors make for the overall success of the Games,” Coe said.

However, Samuda said though move is seemingly logical in World Athletics’ sight, the concept of prize money ran counter to 128 years of Olympic tradition and spirit of amateurism.

“Giving prize money for Olympic gold medalists is understandably a sign of the times and marks what appears to be a growing high tide of world opinion. You know, the professional status of sport has brought with it, inevitably, an increase in demand for rewarding merit, particularly with the emergence of a plethora of competing interests for sporting talent as part of marketing and promotional campaigns and revenue generation,” Samuda said.

“It is understandable in the circumstances. However, the priceless values in sport which Olympism embodies must be safeguarded,” he told SportsMax.TV.

According to reports, the total prize fund of US$2.4 million proposed by World Athletics will come from the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) revenue share allocation that World Athletics receives every four years.

The decision clearly blindsided the International Olympic Committee, which has never awarded money for participating or winning a medal, as it believes that to compete at a Games is reward enough.

It is the first time since the founding of the modern Games in 1896 that a gold medal will automatically come with a guaranteed monetary prize from a sport’s governing body.

 “The priceless values in sport which Olympism embodies must be safeguarded as being critical to the heart, spirit and soul of sport, without which our efforts at creating a gentler and kinder humanity will be penniless. A balance has to be struck in the interest of sport,” Samuda stated.

It is expected that for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, prize money will also be extended to silver and bronze medallists.

Valieva, who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in December 2021, was handed a four-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.

Valieva, who was 15 at the time, was cleared to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing by the Russian anti-doping agency and the failed test only came to light after she had helped her country to team gold.

The International Olympic Committee has said it can now award team figure-skating medals from the 2022 Games “in accordance with the ranking”.

That means the USA, who originally won silver, would be awarded gold, with the original bronze medallists Japan being upgraded to silver. Canada, who missed out on a medal, look set to get the bronze.

The IOC said it was ready to hold a “dignified” medal ceremony once the results had been officially ratified by the sport’s international federation, the International Skating Union.

“The IOC welcomes the fact that the CAS ruling provides clarity in this case, and the athletes from the team figure skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 can finally get their medals, for which they have been waiting so long,” an IOC spokesperson said.

“The IOC is now in a position to award the medals in accordance with the ranking, which has to be established by the International Skating Union. We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition.

“The IOC will contact the respective NOCs (national Olympic committees) in order to organise a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.”

Valieva’s ban, backdated to the time of the original failed test, will run until Christmas Day 2025.

CAS found she had been unable to establish that the doping violation had not been committed intentionally, and found her age made no difference in the necessity to prove that the violation was not intentional.

“This case, and its circumstances, are further proof of the need to address the part played by the athletes’ entourage in doping cases,” the IOC spokesperson added.

“This is even more important if the athletes are minors, who are even more reliant on their entourage.”

The IOC only learned of Valieva’s doping violation after the team event in 2022 and immediately sought to appeal the decision of RUSADA to lift her suspension. The appeal was joined by the ISU and the World Anti-Doping Agency but an ad-hoc CAS panel cleared her to keep competing.

She entered the individual figure-skating event but ultimately finished in fourth place.

World Athletics announced the US$2.4million (£1.89m) prize pot on Wednesday morning in a move which makes it the first international sport federation to award prize money at an Olympics.

The global governing body said the initiative also included a “firm commitment” to extend the prize money to silver and bronze medallists at the Los Angeles Games in four years’ time.

Relay medallists will split the US$50,000 prize across the team, World Athletics said.

“The introduction of prize money for Olympic gold medallists is a pivotal moment for World Athletics and the sport of athletics as a whole, underscoring our commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.

“This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport.”

Coe added: “We started with the Olympic dividend payments to our member federations, which saw us distribute an extra five million dollars a year on top of existing grants aimed at athletics growth projects, and we are now in a position to also fund gold medal performances for athletes in Paris, with a commitment to reward all three medallists at the LA28 Olympic Games.

“While it is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal, or on the commitment and focus it takes to even represent your country at an Olympic Games, I think it is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.”

The awarding of prize money will be subject to ratification, which will include medal-winning athletes undergoing and clearing the usual anti-doping checks.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been contacted for comment.