With the Olympics fast approaching, the IOC remains in the spotlight with the doping scandal that could overshadow the Games.

With each passing week more details emerge on doping scandals. Athletes from 2008 and 2012, have been caught with retrospective testing, and crucially two major countries may not be in Rio.

The decision on Russia’s participation in the Games is set to take place within the next 24 hours while Kenya also remain in limbo.

This is compounded by the report from WADA yesterday which revealed that anti-doping officials in Russia are being stopped from testing athletes and being threatened by security services.

Hayley Wickenheiser sits on the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, having won four Winter Olympic Gold medals and seven World Championships.

She believes that the repercussions if the IOC fails to deal with the issue properly, could be enormous.

“The Doping scandal is the biggest issue, there’s no question that this is a watershed moment for the Olympic movement, if the IOC doesn’t handle this properly, then it could really taint the Olympics forever.

“The athletes at the IOC athletes’ commission are pushing to make sure the IOC is doing the right thing and taking the harshest of sanctions for athletes who fail tests, and protecting the clean athletes of the world.

“I don’t think the Olympic movement has ever seen a scandal, or doping, on this level in the history of the Games than it is seeing right now, there’s a lot of stuff to think through.”

While the issue seems to have rocked the Olympic movement, Wickesnheiser doesn’t see this as an IOC-only issue.

“This is an IOC matter that we have to deal with – but this is a widespread sporting issue; to think doping is isolated to the Olympic Games or just a few sports is naive, I think it’s widespread and pretty deep, we’ve got to clean it up.”

“We have to discourage the cheaters from wanting to dope. Retroactive sampling is good, but the process has to be transparent all the way through. Athletes should be involved all the way through, you have to reassure athletes that the process is transparent.”

“Right now it’s the reanalysis of the Sochi lab, we’d like athletes to be present and for the process to be video-taped. To make it clear that the process was done well.

“We need to figure out if state-sponsored doping took place, if it’s possible to prove that with respect to the Russians.”

“I think the second thing is the decision with the IAAF and the ban on the Russian Track and Field (ARAF). It will be a big moment – there are key decisions to be made and not much time to go until Rio.”

If the doping scandal wasn’t bad enough, the Zika virus is also causing the IOC headaches.

It’s such a cause for concern, several media outlets have suggested the World Health Organisation should look into postponed, or even cancelling, the Games.

American Cyclist Tejay van Garderen, according to People magazine, is the first Olympic hopeful to have withdrawn from the Games over fears of the virus.

But Wickenheiser doesn’t believe the IOC have considered postponing the Rio games.

She said: “There’s been talk of the games being postponed – I don’t think it has got to that level at the IOC.”

“I think there continuing to work with the WHO on what is the latest situation with regards to Zika. The reality is there are 59 countries in the world currently facing the Zika virus, but there are many more virus’ and all sorts of things that they have to face – Zika is just one of them.”

“I’m personally going to Rio, I don’t think I will be unsafe, I think it’s just about managing the risk.”

With the WHO due to look deeper at the risk of staging the Games, and the IAAF due to rule on the non-compliant countries, the Olympics face a crucial month.

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Five-time Olympic medalist, Hayley Wickenheiser is regarded as one of the best female hockey players in the world with an uncompromised determination and dedication to her sport. However, it’s not just her lethal slapshot that is respected by her teammates, fans and peers; Hayley is also an award winner, community leader, mentor, history-maker and an accomplished businesswoman.

In the fall of 2011, Hayley was bestowed one the country’s highest civilian honours when she was amongst 50 notable Canadians appointed to the Order of Canada “for her achievements as an athlete and for her contributions to the growth of women’s hockey.” Most recently, she was inducted to Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Her election by her fellow competitors to the IOC in 2014 is one of Hayley’s personal greatest career accomplishments. She takes it as a grand honour and a grand responsibility to represent the voice of Olympians the world over. Hayley sits on both the Athlete’s Commission and the Medical Commission.

Hayley’s

MotoGP and Dorna Sports have agreed a deal with the Czech Grand Prix Association to see the Czech GP remain at the Automotodrom Brno until 2020. 

Brno hosted its first GP back in 1965 and the 2016 Czech Grand Prix is scheduled for 21 August.

More info HERE.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has revealed that Unicef UK will extend its official race charity partnership to include the 2017-18 edition.

This will be the second consecutive partnership between the world’s longest ocean race, drugs and Unicef.

Clipper Race CEO, view William Ward said: “The Clipper Race is committed to a long-term fundraising partnership with Unicef so I am very pleased to be announce that our partnership is extending to include the 2017-18 edition race.

“Unicef is global and so are we so together we are a powerful fundraising combination. As our crew train and navigate the world’s oceans and face challenging environments, they will be making a difference to children around the world facing even tougher challenges each day.”

Becks Bohling, Head of Public Fundraising at Unicef UK, said, said:  “We are delighted to have been chosen as the official race charity for the 2017-18 race and to continue our relationship with the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

“To date, since the partnership launched in April earlier this year, Clipper Race crew have raised an amazing £83,000 for Unicef and we are excited to see what more we can achieve together over the coming months and years in order to create a lasting change for children in danger around the world.”

Total attendances at Jockey Club Racecourses have risen by 19% in the first six months of 2015, according to new figures published today.

Setting a record pace for the year, this is the first time that crowds at The Jockey Club’s racing events have surpassed the one million mark by the end of June.

Average attendances at The Jockey Club’s 15 racecourses, which have so far staged events such as the Cheltenham Festival, the Crabbie’s Grand National and The Investec Derby, also increased year-on-year by 27% from 5,319 to 6,744, despite hosting 6% fewer fixtures.

This bumper first half of the year puts The Jockey Club, which reinvests all its profits into the sport for British racing’s long-term benefit, on course to beat its annual attendance record set in 2011 when crowds of 1.9 million attended its racing events.

At the halfway point of that year, 991,564 people had attended The Jockey Club’s fixtures – 87,437 fewer than the same stage in 2015.

Paul Fisher, Group Managing Director of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “Our racing crowds are up 27% on average and 19% in total for the first half of this year and that’s seen us welcome more than 1 million people in the fastest time ever. We’re absolutely delighted and from asking our customers we know that our racing is increasingly being seen as a great thrill and a good value experience by people of all backgrounds and ages.”

‎Outlining the key reasons behind the boost in attendances, Fisher added: “As consumer confidence returns you might make the link to this performance, but actually our previous record year came during the downturn and general admissions held up really well through those tough times.

“However, the economy is a major factor in the record hospitality sales we’re now achieving, which was a revenue stream that crashed and has now returned with interest with the economic recovery and as a result of us creating new hospitality choices with a greater range of price points to attract customers back.

“While we’ve invested more than £250 million in some great facilities at our venues over the last decade, racing is an outdoor pursuit so the weather in the second half of the year will be a big factor in whether we have a record year for attendance or not. In any case sales are up and we’re tracking growth in interest levels about racing, which bodes well for the long-term.”

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The Miami Marlins will host the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game for the first time in 2017.

Full story HERE.

Beverley Racecourse has chosen TALENT Sport, the ecommerce platform from Advanced Ticketing (Advanced), to handle its ticketing and customer relationship management operations.

The independent Yorkshire racecourse has selected the flagship solution as part of its goal to gain a better insight and analysis of its customer database in order to implement an online sales and marketing strategy.

The system goes live at the racecourse in March 2015 in time for the start of the flat racing season.

Chief Executive of Beverley Racecourse Sally Iggulden says, “The appointment of Advanced Ticketing is our latest investment in improving the racecourse and overall customer journey for the thousands of racegoers who visit Beverley every year. We were impressed with TALENT Sport’s foothold in the racing market, with key players such as Chester and Goodwood as clients.

“TALENT Sport will allow us to capture key customer data that will inform and shape our marketing campaigns. We will now be able to deliver the right message to the right people, delivering a personalised and tailored online experience.

“The intelligence gathered will open new doors for us in terms of the opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell to existing racegoers. For example, we will be looking at how we turn a premier enclosure badge holder into a corporate hospitality customer.”

Mark Dewell, Managing Director of Advanced Ticketing said; “The team at Beverley are very forward thinking and innovative in their approach as an enterprising independent racecourse.

“We really enjoy working with clients who know exactly what they want the system to deliver for them and who overlay the functionality onto their strategic goals. We look forward to a successful partnership with Beverley racecourse.”