With the signing of Wu Lei, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona propelled itself into the spotlight in China, attracting widespread media attention and large TV audiences in the country. But with a history dating back to 1900, the Catalan club has a much deeper story to tell.

As part of its ongoing internationalisation efforts, Los Periquitos are committed to bringing this story to life for overseas audiences and China has naturally emerged as a key target market. Teaming up with LaLiga, it provided a unique opportunity for a top Chinese journalist to visit Spain and get closer to its new star player, while also receiving exclusive access to staff, players and facilities that would illustrate what the club stands for.

Find out more here.

Bruno Grandi, who was President of the International Gymnastics Federation for two decades from 1997 until 2016, passed away on 13 September in Italy, at the age of 85, following an illness.

He achieved success as a member of the Junior Italian team and then as coach of the Italian Men’s team

He presided over the Italian Gymnastics Federation from 1977 to 2000 and was also Vice President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) from 1987 to 2005.

He was an IOC member from 2000 to 2004.

Grandi made himself a champion of “sports justice.” Having come within 0.05 of the Italian senior national title in his younger days, he knew that there is nothing more terrible for an athlete than the feeling that a medal has been stolen from them. From modifying the competition format to developing a system of evaluating judges, many of his actions were guided by the desire to ensure fairness for the competitors.

Following controversy at the Athens Olympics in 2004, he supported the abandonment of the “perfect 10” for a scoring system that separated the difficulty in an exercise from the quality of its execution. The move caused lively reactions. but quickly showed its advantages in giving the judges a wider scale for scoring.

With the protection and the health of the athletes in mind, he instituted a minimum age limit – 16 for women and 18 for men – to be able to participate in international competitions. This measure strove to combat the intensive training imposed on children in certain countries and to reduce the risk of injuries and their impact on the physical development of athletes.

In partnership with the IOC, Tokyo 2020 and other Games partners, Intel’s ground-breaking technology will bring innovations to the Games across a wide range of areas, from 5G platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to immersive media and esports.

“After a very successful PyeongChang 2018 we’re excited to partner with Intel once again to bring the next era of technology to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” said Timo Lumme, Managing Director of IOC Television and Marketing Services. “Our extended collaboration with Intel allows us to provide the best experiences and technology to all Olympic fans who attend our events and those viewing around the world.”

“Intel is focused on delivering world-class technology integrations at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to improve the experience for athletes, attendees, viewers and Games staff while also demonstrating how technology can transform businesses. We are excited to make the first of a series of announcements about our role in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020,” said Rick Echevarria, General Manager of Intel’s Olympics Programme.

“The Winter Games in PyeongChang represented our first collaboration with the IOC and we look forward to extending and deepening that relationship in the years ahead.”

You can learn more here.

Here is what Yiannis Exarchos, Olympic Channel Services Executive Director, has to say about Intel and Toyko 2020.

 

Following the weak performance of the American team at the FIBA World Cup, USA Basketball Managing Director Jerry Colangelo has warned stars that when it comes time to pick next year’s Olympic team he will remember who let the side down by backing out of playing in China.

The Associated Press Reports:

Of the 35 players originally selected for the U.S. player pool, only four are in China for the World Cup. The U.S. lost to France in the quarterfinals, ending a streak of seven major international tournaments — four Olympics and three World Cups — where the Americans captured a medal, the last five of them being gold.

“I can only say, you can’t help but notice and remember who you thought you were going to war with and who didn’t show up,” Colangelo said yesterday. “I’m a firm believer that you deal with the cards you’re dealt. All we could have done, and we did it, is get the commitments from a lot of players. So, with that kind of a hand you feel reasonably confident that you’re going to be able to put a very good representative team on the court.

“No one would have anticipated the pull-outs that we had.”

The USA lost again to Serbia yesterday and will finish no better than seventh — the worst finish ever by an American men’s team in a major tournament. The previous worst was sixth at the 2002 World Championship, and the U.S. coaches with this World Cup team insist that in terms of return on effort invested this group deserved better.

Many players cited schedule concerns as a reason to not play this summer, while others are dealing with injuries and some are acclimating in advance of joining new teams when training camps start in less than three weeks. The new international schedule is a challenge as well, with the World Cup and the Olympics in consecutive off-seasons for the first time since 1967 and 1968.

More than 50 players were part of the U.S. World Cup plan at one point or another. Of those, 12 went to China, two got cut after the first week of training camp — and the other three dozen or so dropped out on their own.

“We just have to get our act together for the Olympics,” said Colangelo, a former NBC coach and team owner.

The U.S. will go to Tokyo seeking a fourth consecutive gold medal and getting stars to play on the Olympic team is rarely a problem. The World Cup team wasn’t exactly loaded with superstars — only two of the 12 U.S. players on the World Cup roster were All-Stars this past season (Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton), while nine of the 12 players on the 2016 Olympic team were coming off All-Star appearances.

“The players did everything they can do,” Colangelo said. “They are a good group of guys. But we went in with higher expectations in terms of roster, and it didn’t kind of happen the way we were hopeful and anticipating and expecting. That, to me, was a big disappointment.”

Colangelo also expressed disappointment for U.S. Coach Gregg Popovich, who will also lead the Tokyo-bound team next summer. Popovich missed out on making the 1972 Olympic team as a player and was an assistant coach on the 2002 World Championship and 2004 Olympic teams that failed to win gold medals.

“I told Pop I felt really bad for him because I wanted him to have a chance to win a gold medal after his experience with USA Basketball in the past,” Colangelo said. “But it wasn’t meant to be in this competition.”

So now, his eyes are turning to Tokyo.

It won’t take long for the recruiting process to start, either.

“Going forward for USA Basketball, we’re going to need the cooperation of teams, agents and then there has to be communication with players 1-on-1 to solidify those commitments,” Colangelo said. “I am going to be anxious to see how many players reach out early to indicate that they wish and want and desire to play.

“But I’ll make this statement: It’s as much about maybe who we don’t want as much as who we want.”