NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents the audio of the May 29 and May 31 news conferences by the International Olympic Committee announcing the shortlist of three sports to be considered for inclusion on the program of the 2020 Olympics. Both news conferences took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the IOC was having its Executive Board meeting.

The May 29 news conference started with the announcement by Mark Adams, IOC's Director of Communications, of the three sports which made the shortlist: wrestling, the joint bid of baseball and softball, and squash. Questions from reporters were also answered by Franco Carraro, the chairman of the Olympic Programme Commission. They explained the official criteria used to rate the Olympic sports and federations, and how the process of dropping and adding sports takes place. The full IOC is scheduled to decide in September which one, and only one, of these three sports will be on the 2020 program.

The May 31 news conference featured IOC President Jacques Rogge, whose term also ends in September, when there will be elections for his successor. He discussed, among other topics, why the IOC put in place a limit on the number of sports, federations, and athletes in the Olympics; why some sports and federations are made to leave the Olympic Games so as to have the "best Olympic program"; his views on the changes in wrestling since the new regime took over in FILA, the international wrestling federation, in February; the proposal by incoming SportAccord President Marius Vizer for a new united World Championships event involving all SportAccord federations, both Olympic and non-Olympic, to be held every four years; reflections on his career as IOC President; and more.

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Labels: baseball, Eddie Goldman, Franco Carraro, International Olympic Committee, IOC, Jacques Rogge, Marius Vizer, Mark Adams, No Holds Barred, shortlist, softball, SportAccord, sports, squash, wrestling