The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has appointed Beyond Sport to support the IOC Sport for All Commission throughout the build-up to the 15th IOC World Conference on Sport for All, sale to be held in Lima, doctor Peru in April 2013.

The IOC Sport for All Commission was established in 1983 with the primary aim of encouraging and supporting efforts to disseminate the health and social benefits of sport. 

Beyond Sport will be supporting in the development of the event delivery and will use its extensive network and knowledge of programmes from around the world to assist the Commission in selecting the recipients of the Sport for All Grants. The two bodies have already worked together ahead of the first such awarding of grants, announced at the 14th IOC World Conference on Sport for All in Beijing, China in 2011.

Sam Ramsamy, the Chairman of the IOC Sport for All Commission, commented: “Sport for All is at the heart of the Olympic Movement and closely linked to development through sport. It really touches society at large. The expertise of Beyond Sport in this area increases the impact of the conference and future initiatives.”

Beyond Sport is uniquely positioned to be able to provide such a service to the IOC. The organisation is the central point for a network which now reaches 135 countries across the globe, and has conducted extensive due diligence on dozens of programmes using sport as a tool to tackle social issues including health, unemployment, conflict resolution, gang-related violence and education.

Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, commented: “Beyond Sport’s values and objectives have, since our foundation, been similar to the values and objectives of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement as a whole. Sport can and does play a transformative role in communities around the world. The IOC occupies a unique place both within and beyond sport, and the potential impact of Sport for All’s mission is unprecedented in this field.”

China has done “very well” in the fight against doping and should share its experience and expertise with other parts of Asia according to a senior official of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA).

“I’m happy with the progress shown by China Anti-doping Agency (CHINADA),” David Howman, director general of WADA, said.

CHINADA was established as an independent national anti-doping body in 2007 with a world-class laboratory.

Howman also commended China’s education program for elite athletes, but believes China still faces some challenges. “There’s always room for improvement, of course. As a big country that has so many athletes, China needs to develop its own model, which is difficult,” he said.

Howman believes that developing a Chinese model could entail sharing knowledge and expertise of anti-doping strategy with other countries in Asia. “It’s important for strong countries to do that,” he said.

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West Ham United have quashed reports of a ground-share with Leyton Orient.

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn has been a fierce critic of West Ham’s bid to become stadium tenants after the Olympics but said recently he would consider a ground-share arrangement for his League One club.

The Hammers insist there have been no talks about such a possibility – nor will there be.

A West Ham statement said: “West Ham United has not held talks with Leyton Orient in respect of ground sharing and nor is it our intention to do so.

“We do not wish to comment on recent statements made by Barry Hearn not least because we can’t keep up with his ever-changing position. They continue, however, to provide us with a constant source of amusement.”

The Hammers said the demand from fans for tickets for the recent Championship play-off final at Wembley showed the Olympic Stadium will not be too big for their supporter base.

The statement added: ‘We are the only football option able to fill the stadium to capacity on a regular basis.

“Our recent Wembley play-off final win, which secured our promotion back to the Premier League, saw a level of demand from our supporters that could have sold out Wembley Stadium to West Ham fans alone.

“The noise and atmosphere created by our fans on May 19 gave a mouthwatering taste of what the Olympic Stadium could offer to supporters week in, week out.

‘We also bring the opportunity for the regeneration of the Olympic Park – people, prosperity, opportunity, exposure, economy and expertise from our very first match in 2014. This provides far wider benefits for the local community and the nation as a whole.”

In a recent study carried out by Marketing Week has showed that consumer awareness of brands involvement in London 2012 is fairly poor with MasterCard, Nike and Sony all considered official sponsors when they are not.

In a specially commissioned survey of 1,000 consumers run by Lightspeed Research last month, the big-name brands that people wrongly think are sponsors include MasterCard, Nike, Sony, HSBC, Pepsi and Dell. Lightspeed gave consumers a list of brands and asked them to say whether they are sponsors of the games or not. The results reveal that 20% think MasterCard is sponsoring London 2012, compared with 27% who correctly identify Visa as an official sponsor.

Adidas gets 14% in terms of prompted awareness of its £100m sponsorship, compared with 15% of people who wrongly think that rival Nike is involved with the games. However, Coca-Cola trumps Pepsi, with 38% correctly identifying Coke as an official supporter, compared with 9% who think Pepsi is the official soft drinks supplier.

Ralph Risk, Lightspeed’s EMEA marketing director, says the public’s false perceptions of non-Olympics sponsor brands are forgivable because of the “halo effects” of big brand activities. “People automatically assume big brands are involved in big events,” he says.

The consensus across the Frontline panel is that large multinational brands stick in the minds of consumers anyway. However, the brand power of official London 2012 partners McDonald’s and Coca-Cola sees them hold their own against outsiders. They top the prompted recall list at 39% and 38% respectively.

But the panel also concurs that any fears of ambush marketing by non-sponsors will encourage official partner brands to communicate their sponsorship very clearly.

Stephen Vaughan at official Olympics partner Thomas Cook says: “I think the ambush marketing activities around 2012 will be 10 times worse compared to what has happened before. Brands will use the Union flag, carefully worded copy or former athletes to establish a link. It just makes me more determined to ensure the quality of our official communications.”

Business brands that have signed up to become official Olympics partners such as Dow, Adecco, Cisco and Deloitte are at the bottom of the prompted recall ranking thanks to the nature of their sector and lack of consumer awareness. The majority of respondents also indicate that they do not know what these brands do.

Lightspeed’s Risk says: “You would expect business-to-business brands to be looking at how they talk to their partners and clients about their Olympic activity. It probably wouldn’t give them that much bang for their buck by talking to general consumers.”

This comes after a Global Language Monitor report analysing ambush marketing.

Jenson Button might have been the victim of an attempted kidnapping in Sao Paulo on Saturday night, according to former Formula One champion Jackie Stewart.

The Formula 1 paddock was in shock on Sunday after it emerged the reigning World Champion’s car had been approached by up to six men with guns whilst returning from Interlagos to his Morumbi hotel.

The specially trained police driver fended off the attack by smashing through traffic, with triple World Champion Stewart worrying that wallets and watches might not have been the target.

“Drug barons don’t go out to kill people but kidnap them because they are linked to rich multinational companies. In Jenson’s case that means Vodafone and Mobil,” the Scot said.

50 years ago, Cuban rebels kidnapped the then reigning World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio at gunpoint and held him for 24 hours.

Button’s father John, who was in the car with his son at the time of the attack, admitted he fears it was not random.

Rumours on Sunday suggested the attackers were alerted a few minutes before the attack that Button’s entourage had left the circuit.

“It was really weird,” said John Button, “because we were in a very small, compact Mercedes, and they couldn’t see in.”

“It looked like they were waiting for someone, so that’s a little bit worrying.”

Button’s attack was not the only security issue at Interlagos this year. A group of photographers had their cameras stolen, a radio producer was relieved of his wallet and car keys, and even the local Lucas di Grassi admitted to being mugged.

“A guy walked up to the car, tapped a gun in his belt and I handed over the watch,” said the Virgin driver.

One certainty is that Button was relieved to leave Brazil on Sunday night.

“I don’t think that’s the way to put it,” he said before the race. “It’s an epic circuit and it holds a lot of good memories. But I’ll be on my way home tonight.”

The International Cycling Union (UCI) have announced today the appointment of Sebastien Gillot as Head of Communications.

Joining from the International Boxing Association (AIBA), medstore the Frenchman will support the strategy of modernization and transparency implemented by the new governance of the UCI and its President Brian Cookson. The announcement comes few a days after the International Federation for Cycling appointed deltatre to assist in revamping its digital strategy. 

Sebastien Gillot, 34, is joining the UCI with sound experience of International Federations, having spent three years as Head of Communications and Public Relations at AIBA and seven years as Lead Editor of the French channel for FIFA.com. A multi-linguist and father of two, Sebastien has also worked for the advertising agency Havas Sports & Entertainment before advising the Annecy 2018 Olympic bid. 

Welcoming Sebastien to the UCI Martin Gibbs, UCI Director General, said: “Having Sebastien on board is excellent news for the UCI. His understanding of international sports federations and the Olympic Movement is perfectly in tune with our goal to restore the reputation of our Federation and to get it back on track as a major player in global sport. His appointment comes at an exciting time for UCI communications as we prepare for the launch of the new UCI website later this summer.” 

Gillot will join the UCI on May 5.?

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, has announced a multi-year partnership with BaseballProspectus.com (BPro) to share data and analysis.

The partnership’s debut feature on MLB.com is Postseason Probabilities, an interactive visualization of the current standings and each team’s chances of winning the division or wild card, or securing a postseason berth. Additional content and features will be forthcoming as Baseball Prospectus and MLBAM collaborate to leverage their respective analysis and data.

“We are thrilled to partner with MLB Advanced Media,” said Joe Hamrahi, President of Baseball Prospectus. “We have long since admired and respected the amazing accomplishments of the MLBAM team and look forward to working and collaborating with them going forward.”

“Baseball Prospectus has a long-standing expertise in analysis and research and it will play an insightful role as we launch new programming on MLB.com,” said Dinn Mann, EVP, Content, MLBAM.

Over 40, health 000 gathered to participate in World Squash Day Challenge in united support of the sport’s 2020 Olympic bid. 

Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, symptoms Andrew Shelley, Chief Executive of the World Squash Federation (WSF), said: “World Squash Day gives us an annual opportunity to promote squash locally, regionally and nationally, using a theme. 

“Last year, for example, it was ‘Bring on the Girls’. This year we combined the opportunities for clubs and centres to do this by introductory offers with an opportunity to take part in the World Squash Day Challenge, to be part of a unified demonstration of just how universal we are, and how passionate our players are. With 40,000 players registered from over 70 countries I think that has been clearly shown!” 

World Squash Day proved a massive hit from around the globe. 

“Overnight I have received group photo from clubs in places as diverse as the Cook Islands, Nigeria and Ecuador, amongst others. The enthusiasm to get involved everywhere has taken my breath away,” added Shelley. 

The event, designed to give the sport visibility and encourage every country around the world to pick up a racket, has already received a great amount of exposure. 

Shelley concluded: “There have also been media reports circulating from all over the place too, which is just what promoting our sport is about. There are a bunch of videos on YouTube and I have heard about various TV interviews too. 

“World Squash Day wasn’t a success, it was a roaring success!”

IMG Doğuş, the Turkish joint venture between IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, and Doğuş, one of Turkey’s largest sector conglomerates, today signed a letter of intent (Lol) with Besiktas to develop a broad range of world class sports, fashion and art projects in Istanbul. This represents the first major initiative undertaken by the IMG Doğuş Joint Venture.

IMG Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Dolan, representing the IMG Doğuş Joint Venture, and Mr. Fikret Orman, Chairman of Beşiktaş JK, signed the LoI in Istanbul today.

Under the terms of the LoI, IMG Doğuş will work with Beşiktaş on a variety of important strategic initiatives around sports, fashion and the arts. IMG will provide design and development work of the new stadium and also will create additional revenue generating concepts.

In one of the first projects being planned, IMG Doğuş will assist Beşiktaş in revamping and modernizing to global standards its Youth Sports Academy and Close Season Training Camp in Turkey. IMG has extensive expertise in this area as the owner of one of the world’s leading academies in Florida, USA. Set on over 400 acres, IMG Academy features programs for American Football, European Football, tennis, golf, basketball and baseball among other sports.

In addition, the LoI calls for IMG Doğuş, utilizing IMG’s position as the world’s leading marketing organization, to manage the sale of all the commercial rights of the Club and the Club’s Stadium in Istanbul. This will include the development of a family of sponsors including naming rights, shirt sponsorship, technical sponsors and official suppliers.

IMG Doğuş will also assist Beşiktaş in developing a business plan for all aspects of the proposed Stadium redevelopment project. IMG is the market leader in the commercialization of new stadia and is currently working on a number of new stadia in Brazil and Russia for FIFA World Cup 2014 and 2018 respectively. The agreement includes the development of a business plan for the planned new Beşiktaş stadium.

IMG and Beşiktaş also plan to cooperate on the creation of an exciting new concept — a Centre of Excellence in the Stadium Management.

“We are extremely pleased and excited about the new IMG Doğuş relationship with Beşiktaş JK,” said Michael Dolan on behalf of the IMG Doğuş Joint Venture. “The Club has enormous history in Turkey and has enjoyed tremendous success in its more than 100 years of existence. We believe that with the IMG Doğuş experience and knowledge of the Turkish market, that we can have a very significant positive impact on The Club. We are looking forward to a long and prosperous association,” Mr. Dolan concluded.

Speaking at the press meeting, Mr. Fikret Orman, Chairman of Beşiktaş JK, said, “As the oldest sports club in Turkey, we are glad to pioneer the industry again to initiate a strong long-term cooperation with IMG Doğuş. We believe that IMG’s worldwide experience and know-how will lead us to develop new projects and bring a new vision to our understanding of sports and club management. We hope that this Lol will constitute a benchmark both for Turkey and the sector.”