International Olympic Committee

In a move that throws the future of softball in the Olympics into even deeper doubt, the International Olympic Committee's policy-making executive board Sunday approved new quotas that will add 128 more female athletes to the Olympic program in the 2008 Beijing Games than competed in 2004 in Athens. The IOC's general assembly voted last July to cut baseball and softball from the Olympics after the 2008 Games. The excision of softball means the loss of 120 women.

Russian Olympic skating gold medalist Anton Sikharulidze, distressed and indignant at Friday's decision to award a second gold to the rival Canadian skating pair, said there had been competitions in which he and partner Elena Berezhnaya had skated as well as their Canadian rivals but had to accept silver medals. But he said they never complained. He said the decision to award a second gold was "totally wrong" and "not done."

In the first appearance by an International Olympic Committee president before Congress, Juan Antonio Samaranch turned in a virtuoso performance Wednesday that may ultimately be a turning point in public perception of the worst scandal in Olympic history. Cool and calm, he offered answers for every question lawmakers contentiously zinged his way--even as he asserted that a 50-point package of reforms the IOC endorsed last weekend has made it more open and accountable than ever before.

Pleas by Olympic officials to close a controversial exhibit of a stuffed African tribesman during the Summer Games will be rejected, the vice mayor of Banyoles said Tuesday. Carles Abella said the decision to keep the exhibit open is "irrevocable" despite pressure from the International Olympic Committee and citizens who charge the museum display is racist.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee on Friday released a lengthy and yet cryptic memo written in the early 1990s, a document that apparently targets members of the International Olympic Committee believed to be susceptible to bribery or other temptations.

Charles Gary Allison realized he had found his life's work after meeting two Olympic champions more than half a century after they competed in the 1896 Summer Games. A writer and film producer who was always looking for interesting stories to tell, Allison often described his random encounters in the 1950s and '60s with pole vaulter William Hoyt and shot putter and discus thrower Robert Garrett. Inspired by the recollections of these nearly forgotten American athletes, Allison began unraveling the tales of the 13-member U.S. team that traveled to Greece for the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games.

Atlanta's fingerprints were all over Athens' triumphant bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics--and I don't mean the paw marks Billy Payne left imprinted on the back of every Greek he could track down and serial hug in the wake of Friday's vote.

Putting his political prestige on the line, President Obama has decided to fly to Denmark this week to appeal to the International Olympic Committee to choose Chicago, his adopted hometown, as host of the 2016 Games. The White House announced Monday that Obama would arrive in Copenhagen on Friday, just before Chicago makes its formal presentation to Olympics officials who are also considering Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. A decision is expected later that day, within hours of Obama's appearance.

In the live-from-New York special he filmed last year for HBO, comedian Robin Williams launched into an extended riff about Canada and the Winter Olympics and made it sound as if there's no there there up beyond the United States. Canada, he said, "is like a loft apartment over a really great party."

The list of things that traditionally certify a city as "major league" in sports is short: a big-league baseball or football franchise. But what does it take to be "world class"? There the options boil down to one thing: hosting the Olympics. "And I think we have a good chance," Barry Sanders told me.

Seven days before the opening ceremony and George Fitch already detects something missing from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Namely, fun. The last time the world's grandest sporting event touched down on Canadian soil -- at Calgary in 1988 -- Fitch assembled the Jamaican bobsled team, a hobbin', bobbin', T-shirt-sellin' crew that became an overnight sensation and, in time, a Disney movie. "People really liked us," Fitch said. "They saw this was good, this was what the Games were all about."

For those arguing that President Obama is neglecting important work by flying to Denmark in support of Chicago's Olympics bid, the White House has settled on an answer: You don't think America should host the Olympics? A White House aide trotted out that argument against Republican Sen. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, who said this week that the president should stay put and consult his generals about the state of the war in Afghanistan. "What does Sen. Bond have against the Olympics coming to America?"

Putting his political prestige on the line, President Obama has decided to fly to Denmark this week to appeal to the International Olympic Committee to choose Chicago, his adopted hometown, as host of the 2016 Games. The White House announced Monday that Obama would arrive in Copenhagen on Friday, just before Chicago makes its formal presentation to Olympics officials who are also considering Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. A decision is expected later that day, within hours of Obama's appearance.

The Olympics are supposed to promote peace and goodwill among people and countries. But only one day after the U.S. Olympic Committee announced plans to launch a new cable channel dedicated to coverage of Olympic sports, an international controversy has erupted, threatening to scuttle the channel and Chicago's bid to be the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee, the governing body that organizes the Games, on Thursday scolded the U.S.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is the latest major sports organization to dive into the television channel business, announcing Wednesday that it was partnering with cable giant Comcast Corp. to launch the U.S. Olympic Network. "Olympics programming really goes dark for the two years between the Games, and there are many events and compelling stories that are never broadcast," said U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Operating Officer Norman Bellingham.

Call it dopers vs. testers, Beijing edition. With 11,000 athletes converging on China in the coming days, the International Olympic Committee plans to collect 4,500 blood and urine samples before and during more than two weeks of athletic events -- a 25% increase from the 2004 Athens Games. Officials will check more than 400 athletes for synthetic human growth hormone, focusing on competitors in track and field, cycling, swimming and weightlifting.

The International Olympic Committee agreed Tuesday to allow Iraq to participate in the Beijing Games, reversing itself after Baghdad pledged to ensure the independence of its national Olympics panel. The decision followed last-minute talks between Iraqi officials and the IOC before today's deadline to submit competitors' names for track and field events. The Olympics begin Aug. 8. Iraq is expected to send two athletes to Beijing to compete in track and field.

Four years after its athletes received a huge ovation at the first Olympics after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was told Thursday that its seven-member team would not be allowed to compete in Beijing because of a dispute with the International Olympic Committee. Olympic officials informed Iraq that it was barring the team because the government had dismissed the country's Olympic committee and appointed a new body chaired by its youth and sports minister.

ATHENS -- A leading International Olympic Committee official heated up the war of words over the United States' portion of Olympic revenues Tuesday, and the escalation of rhetoric could burn Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Games. IOC member Hein Verbruggen of the Netherlands called the U.S. Olympic Committee's share an "immoral amount of money compared to what other people get."

Charles Gary Allison realized he had found his life's work after meeting two Olympic champions more than half a century after they competed in the 1896 Summer Games. A writer and film producer who was always looking for interesting stories to tell, Allison often described his random encounters in the 1950s and '60s with pole vaulter William Hoyt and shot putter and discus thrower Robert Garrett. Inspired by the recollections of these nearly forgotten American athletes, Allison began unraveling the tales of the 13-member U.S. team that traveled to Greece for the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games.