The French bid of Annecy to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics has suffered another major setback after deputy director general Herve Madore resigned yesterday, April 10.

Internal conflicts are what Madore based his decision upon, one that coincided with Annecy sending a high-powered delegation to London where they gave a presentation at SportAccord.

Madore was not part of the public face of Annecy’s team but played a vital role behind the scenes directing operational affairs.

Following Annecy 2018 President Charles Beigbeder’s decision to draft in Pierre Mirabeaud as the new director general in January, Madore claimed that he did not feel he fitted in.

French officials have been playing down Madore’s resignation but it adds to the perception that it is a bid in crisis, especially following the resignation in December of former Olympic champion Edgar Grospiron as chief executive in a row over the budget.

A spokesman for the bid stated: “Annecy 2018 confirms Herve Madore has decided to leave his position as deputy director general of the bid to move on to a new opportunity with the Ministry of Sport.

“Our President, Charles Beigbeder and the rest of the team are all enormously grateful for the contributions he has made to the bid; particularly in leading the production of our excellent bid book.

“We wish him well in his new position and thank him for the role he has played in helping us develop a bid we believe can win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

‘We have a committed and talented team in place who can deliver in every area required in the final phase of our campaign. 

“We will continue to do everything we can to make this bid a success.”

There is also growing unrest, however, among International Olympic Committee (IOC) members about the low profile adopted by triple Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy in backing the bid.

Killy, an influential member of the IOC who is the chairman of the Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014, has so far failed to appear at any of Annecy’s international presentations.

He only appeared in their presentation at SportAccord via a six month old video though Beigbeder insists that Killy is fully behind the bid and had a meeting with him before leaving for London to discuss their campaign.

“He told us to keep to the the basics, stay focused and sell the product,” he said.

“He thinks and wants us to win.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) hopes to break the billion-dollar mark for revenue from top sponsors by the time of the London Olympics in 2012, medic IOC marketing head Gerhard Heiberg said. The IOC already has $960 million of sponsorship in place for the 2009 to 2012 timeframe and remains confident of adding one or two more major companies by the London Games.

“The market situation has relaxed considerably. I hope that we will reach the billion-dollar mark in the coming year,” Heiberg told DPA on the verges of the IOC Executive Committee meeting in Acapulco.

The IOC have managed to sign up Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble in the last four months, bringing the number of top sponsors to 11.

The sponsorship programme brought in $866 million for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

According to South Africa’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) president Gideon Sam, Durban is being lined up as the nation’s candidate for the 2020 Olympics due to the “economies of scale” presented by the city.

Durban is now the most likely candidate, with Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg also having expressed an interest in staging the Games, though the South African government’s approval is required before the NOC can submit a bid ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) September 1 deadline.

Sam told the Associated Press: “The economies of scale will tip it in the direction of Durban but that final decision has to be taken.”

South Africa, which has never hosted the Olympics, has targeted the 2020 Games after last year’s FIFA World Cup in the country. “If we don’t win on the Olympics, there is 2022 for the Commonwealth Games,” Sam added.

The Italian capital of Rome is the only city to officially enter the running for the 2020 Games, although Madrid, Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and Tokyo have been linked with a bid.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has changed the rules regarding dealing with the time frame for bidding cities to host the Olympic Games.

Olympic guidelines set the time frame between July 15 and August 31 due to the extensive appointments in the international sports calendar. Hence in 2008, viagra Qatar bid was excluded because they proposed to stage the Games in October due to the extreme heat conditions in the summer months.

Following an IOC executive board meeting, mind it was concluded that the decision to change the dates will be submitted to the Executive Board in the initial phase of bidding. This will eliminate allowing cities to go to the second phase of bidding unnecessarily if their proposed dates do not meet the requirements of the IOC.

Another key modification in the bidding process was that bid proposals from the cities located in the southern hemisphere to stage the winter Games will also have to go through an early vetting process.

The IOC also is looking at simplifying the paperwork in the submission process and also eliminating duplicate paperwork.

Senior vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Sergey Bubka has claimed that London’s bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships will be harmed by Britain’s three previous failures to secure the event.

Britain’s bid to host the 2003 Championships were shelved after plans to build an athletics track in the new national stadium at Wembley were abandoned.

In 2005, despite London being awarded the Championships, the city pulled out of staging them because then Prime Minister Tony Blair backtracked on the promised that the Government would build a brand new stadium at Picketts Lock.

The latest failure for the 2015 World Championships came at the end of last year after the Government claimed they were unable to commit to backing the bid because of uncertainty over the future of the Olympic Stadium, with Tottenham declaring they would remove the athletics track if awarded the venue. 

Bubka says the trio of disasters is damaging for Britain’s bid to host the 2017 Championships, stating at SportAccord: “I can’t speak for all of my colleagues at the IAAF but this is not positive for Great Britain. This is not positive at all.

“I think we must be honest. When you pull out once, okay. When you pull out a second time, this is not good. When you pull out a third time, serious questions must be asked and it is understandable that the IAAF grow tired of this.

“I understand that sometimes there are serious problems in bidding for events but three times?

“Athletics in the UK has a great opportunity with hosting the IAAF World Championships in London in 2017 but three failed bids would not be good for anyone.”

London faces opposition from three cities to host the 2017 competition as Doha, Budapest and an unnamed city from Spain, likely to be Barcelona or Madrid, have put themselves forward to host the event.

Bubka added that he is delighted it has been confirmed that the Olympic Stadium will have an athletics legacy after London 2012 but stated that this does not mean that they will be easily awarded the 2017 Athletics World Championships.

“I spoke very strongly last year about how important it was for London to have an athletics legacy at the Olympic Stadium and I am very happy that they have honoured this commitment they made in Singapore in 2005,” he said.

“I am very happy that now there is legacy for the young people and London will have a strong bid for 2017. But this does not mean they will be awarded the World Championships automatically.

“There are some very strong bids and it will be very interesting to see who will be the winning candidate.”

Question about the fireworks at the opening and closing ceremonies was posed in Acapulco as IOC president Jacques Rogge took questions from leaders of the 200+ National Olympic Committees who have been meeting in Mexico for five days.

Sri Lankan NOC head, Hemasiri Fernando, raised the issue if the extravagant fireworks which are such an inherent part of the celebrations could be bad for the environment.

‘We all have the responsibility to protect this earth and the fireworks have a tremendous effect on the environment,” said Fernando, one of 14 NOC representatives to ask questions during the joint meeting between the IOC executive board and the Anoc executive board.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said he was taking the issue seriously and would speak to London 2012 organisers and the IOC’s environmental committee.

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Cincinnati Reds have expanded their partnership with Skyview Networks.

New to the contract and beginning with the 2014 MLB season, ampoule Skyview will now provide its AdView Inventory Management software, a cloud-based application that allows the Cincinnati Reds access to their logs from anywhere an internet connection is available. AdView, coupled with Skyview’s satellite distribution service already in place for radio, will allow the Cincinnati Reds to regionalize advertiser messaging across its network of over 105 radio affiliates.

“We appreciate the personal contact with the entire Skyview organization. I have found the account team to be very responsive in learning about our needs and how to meet them. They consistently go above and beyond to get the job done correctly. We currently have 105 affiliates and use Skyview for Regionalization of commercials, trafficking and inventory management and they have been very alert to our needs. It is not just a buyer seller relationship—it is a true collaboration to be more efficient and innovative,” said Bill Reinberger, Cincinnati Reds’ Vice President Corporate Sales.

With a network of affiliates spanning nine states, the Cincinnati Reds see value in offering advertisers regionalized messaging, known as copy split-spot insertion (the ability to run different versions of an advertiser message simultaneously). With Skyview, the franchise now has the flexibility to carve its network into regions at the request of advertisers that are looking to tailor campaigns by market.

“We feel that the Reds will enjoy AdView’s streamlined and user-friendly interface for regionalizing its network,” said Ken Thiele, President of Skyview Networks. “We enjoy our working relationship with the Reds’ organization and we are proud to have earned their trust to continue developing our partnership. We look forward to a continued collaboration for tailored broadcast services.”

St Helens RLFC has announced Mike Rush as Chief Executive Officer.

Mike has been with the Club for more than 13 years and in that time has held a number of senior positions including Head of Youth Development, Assistant Coach, Head Coach and, most recently, General Manager. 

Chairman Eamonn McManus stated: “Mike is ideally qualified and suited for the position of CEO of the Saints. He has extensive relevant experience in every area of the Club’s operations and has made a great success of all his roles at the Club over an extensive period. 

“His loyalty and talent are undoubted and he is totally committed to the success of the Saints as one of the world’s leading professional rugby league clubs.” 

Mike Rush added: “I’m delighted to take up the position of CEO at the Saints. I have been with the club a long time and I am looking forward to contributing to the next stage of its development. 

“I fully believe we are entering an exciting new era at the Saints. We have a fantastic new stadium at Langtree Park and a new training facility at Cowley International College and I am sure we are now well positioned to realise the best commercial return for the club both on and off the field.”