The Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) have lost their Chef de Mission for the the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games.

Kate McLoughlin was set to be Australia’s first female Chef de Mission to an Olympics or Paralympics when she was appointed in March, but announced she was stepping down on Friday due to family commitments.

McLoughlin says her expected second child and a family illness made it impractical to continue.

“I’m very proud to have been named as Chef de Mission of the Australian team, but my personal circumstances have changed since my appointment at the start of the year, which is why I have notified my APC colleagues and the Australian team of my intention to stand down,” she said in a statement.

McLoughlin says the decision is best for her family and team ahead of the Games.

APC chief executive Jason Hellwig said the organisation understood and respected the difficult decision.

“She will leave the role with the team in a very strong position, and when the new Chef de Mission takes on the duty, they will do so knowing that everything is in very good shape,” he said.

McLoughlin’s replacement is expected to be named next week.

The 2014 Winter Paralympic Games will be held in Sochi, Russia in March.

Speaking at the inaugural Road to 2020 Forum on Thursday, allergy Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and Madrid 2020 Bid President Alejandro Blanco said that Barcelona 1992 was the benchmark that the Spanish capital’s Olympic and Paralympic Bid has to follow if it is to earn the right to stage the Games.

“The Madrid of 2020 aims to be the Barcelona of 1992, viagra sale ” commented the Bid leader at the event, entitled “From Barcelona 92 to Madrid 20”, the first of seven Road to 2020 forums organised by Spanish sports daily Marca and the COE in collaboration with the Madrid 2020 Bid and the Madrid Business Confederation.

Describing the Games held in the Catalan capital a little over 20 years ago as “unforgettable” and “a benchmark”, Blanco said: “We have the utmost admiration for Barcelona and we want to pick up where they left off. The Barcelona Games were both a crowning moment and a turning point, and we continue to follow in the city’s wake. We remember them as if they were still going on today.”

The COE President went on to say that in organising a “unique” Olympics, Barcelona became “the city of wonders”: “They were the first transitional Games and marked the end of one era and the beginning of the next. In terms of sport they represented the start of the 21st century.” 

For her part, the Mayor of Madrid Ana Botella said the prospect of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics being staged in Madrid was generating “widespread excitement” at a time of need for the country. She added that the priority now was to convince the members of the IOC to choose Madrid’s project when they assemble in Buenos Aires on 7 September.

Also speaking at the event, the Mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias declared his “unconditional” support for the Madrid Bid and said that the staging of the Games would be a “tremendous driving force for growth” for the Spanish capital.

He also said he was in favour of football clubs such as FC Barcelona wearing the Madrid 2020 logo on their shirts should the Bid be successful, while Blanco revealed that the Barça president is firmly behind Madrid 2020: “I have spoken to Sandro Rosell and there can be no doubt about the support of FC Barcelona.”

“Together we cannot be beaten. Civil society is leading the way,” added Trias, identifying himself completely with the Bid before pointing to the indelible mark the Olympics can make: “The Barcelona Games changed the history of our city and exceeded all sporting and social expectations. They were like a blessing that fell on Barcelona.”

London’s Olympic opening ceremony drew in an audience of 26.9 million viewers in the UK, becoming one of the top 20 most-watched programmes in history.

Danny Boyles’s acclaimed Olympics opening ceremony was watched by a peak of nearly 27 million viewers on BBC1. 

The ceremony, which lasted more than three hours and featured stars such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Kenneth Branagh and about 7,500 volunteers, averaged 22.4 million viewers, an 82.5% share of the audience, from 9pm on BBC1 on Friday. 

At its peak at 9.50pm, a huge 26.9 million viewers were watching. 

The average audience of 22.4 million was the highest for any TV programme since England’s defeat by Argentina in the 1998 World Cup on ITV, watched by 23.8 million people. 

It was the biggest audience on BBC1 since a Christmas edition of Only Fools and Horses in 1996, watched by 24.35 million. 

BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said: “BBC1 is all about bringing the nation together for its biggest moments and I’m thrilled by the huge audiences who tuned in to watch last night’s historic events. Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony was an absolute triumph! 

“I am very proud of the two BBC Drama films that formed part of the ceremony. The audience response to the film featuring the Queen and James Bond was one of my highlights.” 

The ceremony’s peak audience of 26.9 million topped the previous sporting highs of 2012, including England’s defeat by Italy in Euro 2012 (23.2 million) and the Wimbledon final, in which Andy Murray lost to Roger Federer, which peaked with 17.1 million. 

It also puts it in the upper echelons of the most-watched TV programmes of all time.

It beat the 21.6 million who tuned in to Dallas to find out who shot JR in 1980, and the 21.3 million who watched the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1977.

But it was no match for the 30.15 million who watched Den divorce Angie in the EastEnders Christmas special in 1986, the UK’s biggest ever non-news or sport programme, or the most-watched TV programme in the UK of all time, England’s 1966 football World Cup win, watched by 32.3 million people.

The three-and-a-half hour ceremony was rehearsed more than 200 times, with each of the 7,500 volunteers spending on average 150 hours practising during the build-up.

The event used 12,956 props and boasted a million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers.

Click here to go to iSportconnect’s Olympic eMagazine

Also join our networking tool here>>

NFL team Baltimore Ravens have partnered with SpotlightTMS to provide software services to their luxury suite owners.

SpotlightTMS is a Software as a Service (SaaS) application that enables companies to manage their sports and entertainment assets and measure the business impact of these investments.

With SpotlightTMS, price the Ravens’ top clients can measure the effectiveness of tickets and suites, unhealthy while also assessing their use as a driver of revenue. The application also enables companies to manage their entertainment asset investments throughout the year in a simple, transparent way. Because SpotlightTMS is delivered through the cloud, the Ravens’ Suite Owners do not invest in additional hardware, or handle software installation, set up or maintenance.

“The Ravens are excited to be partnering with SpotlightTMS and providing this asset to our Suite Owners,” said Josh Hartman, Manager, Premium Services and Suites for the Baltimore Ravens. “Because of the high demand for access to Ravens games and the other major events at M&T Bank Stadium, it became a priority for us to offer our clients real-time access to their various ticket inventories. SpotlightTMS not only streamlines the Suite ticket request and allocation process, it provides metrics that will enable them to accurately measure the return on their investment in the Suite.”

Tony Knopp, SpotlightTMS CEO and co-founder, said: “By offering SpotlightTMS as a benefit to their Suite Owners, the Baltimore Ravens are adding value to suite ownership and enabling their Suite Owners to validate the business impact of their suites. We’re extremely pleased to add the Baltimore Ravens to our growing list of professional sports team partners.”

SpotlightTMS offers companies secure access through the Internet to manage ticket inventories, distribute tickets, analyze the results of ticket usage, acquire additional tickets from multiple sources and meet IRS and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance reporting requirements. Existing SpotlightTMS corporate customers have experienced a reduction in ticket fraud through role-based permission approval for ticket requests, reduction in administrative time and money, and increased sales effectiveness.

SpotlightTMS pioneered the enterprise sports and entertainment ticket management space with SpotlightTMS. Its growing list of enterprise customers seeking to maximize ROI and revenues from their tickets includes Google, Comcast, MetLife, Nike, Oracle, NBCUniversal, Penske Truck Leasing and Stanley Black & Decker. In addition, professional sports teams from football, hockey and basketball — including the Cincinnati Bengals, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bears, New Jersey Devils, Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat, Philadelphia Eagles, Memphis Grizzlies, Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Texans and Detroit Red Wings — are providing SpotlightTMS to their most important customers.

Football Association chairman David Bernstein has hinted that England could take the remarkable step of abstaining when the FIFA Presidential election takes place on June 1.

The FA are to decide whether to back Sepp Blatter or Mohamed Bin Hammam at a Board meeting on May 19 but Bernstein claimed the third option of not voting at all was still a viable decision.

A number of senior FA figures still resent the way England only received two votes for their failed 2018 World Cup bid, blaming current incumbent Blatter for influencing his colleagues on the executive committee.

Bernstein, when asked as to whether a vote for Blatter was wise, confirmed, “I don’t think it would go down very well” with the public.

Although Blatter’s credibility has been hit hard by the recent spate of corruption allegations made by former England bid leader Lord Triesman involving four Executive Committee members, Bin Hammam’s candidacy has also been tarnished by claims separate to Triesman’s, which allege that FIFA members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid US$1.5m to vote for Qatar 2022. 

“There are two candidates and three possible decisions, the other being that we will abstain,” said Bernstein. 

“We will look at the fact that this will be Mr Blatter’s last period. We will look at recent events. I don’t think an abstention would be pointless. 

“It could end up being a very credible choice, but it depends on what happens over the next week and my colleagues’ views on this.”

Bernstein added his voice to the growing clamour for an Olympic-style voting system to replace an elite few wielding so much power.

“Yes I do think it is too centralised,” he said. 

“I think it would be desirable for a voting system based on a national vote…I think  that would be a move towards greater democracy, absolutely.

“FIFA is a very closed organisation and a lot goes on behind closed doors.”

Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich is helping in the rebuilding of an indoor arena in Volvograd, Russia, to enable Russian athletes to improve their training and performances.

The decision came after discussions between Abramovich and Russian athletics chief Valentin Balakhnichyov whilst they were together as a part of the Russian delegation in Zurich in December successfully bidding to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to the latter.

Balakhnichyov stated: “The problem is it gets quite cold inside the arena in the winter, making it very difficult to train. Also, the running track is quite old and needs to be replaced.

“I was surprised how smoothly the talks have gone, I know that Abramovich had already asked his people to find out what has to be done and how much it would cost.

“Hopefully, the work could be completed over the summer.”

John Mann, a spokesman for the Russian oligarch, added: “Yes, it’s true that Yelena has approached Roman for help and the talks are ongoing.”

Balakhnichyov added that the new arena would also help other Russian athletes to improve their performances, saying: “Rebuilding the Volgograd arena should help not only Isinbayeva but all other athletes who train there, and we have many others who may follow in their footsteps.

“We also have athletes from the local youth sports academy who regularly train there, so [the] Ministry will also get involved.”

WWE have announced the appointment of Stefan Kastenmüller as their General Manager based in their new office in Germany.

Kastenmüller will be in charge of Germany, clinic Switzerland and Austria, anabolics in a newly created position, cheap | effective immediately.

This appointment marks the opening of WWE’s first office in Germany, which will be located in Munich, and is part of WWE’s strategic initiative to localize its approach in key international markets by further engaging with fans and partners.

“Germany, Switzerland and Austria are important WWE markets and have been for a long time thanks to a passionate and growing fan base,” said Gerrit Meier, EVP International, WWE. “Hiring an experienced manager like Stefan and opening a new office reflects WWE’s commitment to the region, our fans and our partners.”

As General Manager, Kastenmüller will be responsible for growing WWE’s brand and business in the GSA markets with a primary focus on expanding the company’s content distribution through strategic partnerships and deepening fan engagement across WWE’s live events, digital offerings, community outreach initiatives and retail programs.

Kastenmüller brings more than 20 years experience in brand and entertainment management to WWE and will be a key member of the international leadership team. He has held executive management positions at Ringier, UFA/Fremantle, Disney, Philip Morris and MTV.