The Ukrainians present themselves as proud and self-confident, sad and thoughtful, and ready to give their all in the Olympic arenas. "Each of us thinks about the people who are defending our country," says Olympic champion Olha Kharlan. "It's hard, but that makes us even stronger!"
Live blog from the second day of the 142nd IOC Session, including the conditional awarding of the 2030 and 2034 Winter Olympics to the French Alps (no financial guarantees) and Salt Lake City (disturbing anti doping law).
In a blatant shameful session without any democratic intervention, Saudi Arabia was praised as a savior and model country – by a princess and a prince and by IOC members. There were no dissenting voices when the Olympic Esport Games were awarded. Those who remain silent and nod off are also guilty.
About our Olympic coverage, our Paris 2024 ticket, our way of journalism, the latest articles by Romain Molina and two outstanding TV documentaries you shouldn't miss.
Behind the massive IOC propaganda, the Paris Olympic Games are based on France’s extreme submission to the Gods of Olympism. Tax gifts, labour law, princely treatment, everything has been done to convince and seduce Bach and his supporters. A boon for the IOC.
A cult of personality has ruled the IOC since 2013. Now God, some call him Louis Quatorze, is holding court in France. One of the most important questions of these Games in Paris: will IOC's propaganda department produce even more images of God than at the current record in Rio de Janeiro 2016?
Thomas Bach fell for pranksters. Of course, this has also happened to high-ranking politicians in recent years. However, it surprises how arrogantly amateurish the IOC Sun King acts. What do his many princely-paid directors actually do for a living if they advise Bach incredibly badly?
The IOC president sought to get close to Putin even after the Sochi Doping Games. He fraternised with Xi Jinping. He politicised the 2018 Games in South Korea, driven by the dream of the Nobel Peace Prize. All a miserable failure that dragged the Games deeper into a political quagmire. A commentary.
Did Husain Al-Musallam, president of World Aquatics, award a company owned by his wife and children contracts from public funds? Kuwait's sports authority has handed the case over to the public prosecutor's office. Did he also provide for his family from OCA accounts?
For several weeks now, an online petition has been calling for "Suspend Israel from International Sports". The appeal was launched by the left-wing collective movement DiEM25. In the petition paper, fundamental facts are being omitted or deliberately distorted.
The salaries of the directors of the International Olympic Committee remain exorbitantly high. Around $50 millions are paid over the four-year cycle - probably several millions more. Read the full list for 2022 after we published it last autumn for 2021.
Exclusive: the (non-independent) IOC Ethics Commission opens proceedings against Sheikh Ahmad. A district court in Lausanne dismisses a complaint by Sheikh Talal. Read the complete document of the IOC here.
We provide subscribers with the latest judgement. Read the document and make up your own mind. Ahmad and his supporters are still lying. To this day, the Olympic family continues to perpetuate lie that the criminal conviction is somehow just a private matter – but the case shows Ahmad's true colors.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, the long-time associate of IOC president Thomas Bach, loses both his ministerial post in Kuwait and also in the appeal proceedings against his prison sentence in Switzerland – but his penalty is reduced.
Let's talk about future Winter Olympics in 2030, 2034 and 2038; about at least one future member of the IOC executive board – and about a possible IOC president that not many people have in mind yet.
What is happening in Lausanne right now at the meeting of all Olympic and non-Olympic IFs? SportAccord continues to make itself superfluous in the interests of the IOC. The information provided by SportAccord and its stakeholders is a disaster. Pretentious. Is Uğur Erdener already president?
