More money for national committees
The International Olympic Committee has pledged more funds for small National Olympic Committees, saying it would hike contributions to the poorer nations by 20 per cent. Some NOCs had complained that they were not given a large enough slice of the revenue generated from sponsorship and broadcasting rights. IOC president Jacques Rogge agreed to give the poorer committees an additional US$10,000 each. He said television rights for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics had so far brought in US$2.9 billion, and he expected the final figure to reach about US$3.3 billion.
Rogge eager to see unified Korean team
IOC president Jacques Rogge said he would do all he could to enable North and South Korea to field a unified team in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. 'This is something we dearly want,' Rogge said at a press conference in Seoul. 'The International Olympic Committee will assist in every way by being flexible on issues such as flag, name and qualifications.' North and South Korea have already discussed the prospect of a unified team for the Beijing Games for some time now and have expressed their hopes of reaching agreement though a final decision has yet to be made on the contentious issue.
Doping keeps baseball on the bench
Baseball needs to tackle rampant doping if the sport wants to be reinstated on the Olympic programme, the IOC said this week. Last year baseball and softball were scratched from the 2012 Games programme. They can reapply in 2009 for inclusion in the 2016 Games, but Jacques Rogge said baseball first needed to curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs. 'We still have issues about doping. Progress has been made but not to the level where the Olympic family would accept it,' he said. He also said the sport must deal with the issue of sending Major League Baseball players to the Olympics. 'We want the best players in the games.'
