Moscow to Replace London as ANOC Host City

The Russian capital of Moscow is set to replace London as the host city for next year’s Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly after the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) cash problems forced it to pull out.

The BOA had to give up the opportunity last month, to stage one of the most important events on the Olympic Movement’s calendar because they could not afford the US$8m it would have cost to stage.

Now that Moscow has offered to stage the event, the deal is expected to be finalised when a delegation from the ANOC travels to Russia at the end of July to finalise arrangements for the Assembly, which is due to be held between April 12 and 17.

The bi-annual event is attended by more than 200 National Olympic Committees and is held in conjunction with a meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ruling Executive Board.

It is the second time in recent weeks that Moscow have stepped in to offer themselves as a replacement for a major event after they were chosen to replace Tokyo as the host city of the World Figure Skating Championships.

Russia is due to host several important Olympic meetings in the build-up to the 2014 Winter Olympcis and Paralympics in Sochi.

They include this year’s European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly and the annual SportAccord convention in 2013 with both events due to be held in Sochi.