Thursday, February 7, 2013

IOC - News letter on Feb. 2013 .....

IOC News letter....

IOC Executive Board meeting on 12 and 13 February 2013 in Lausanne - Information for the media - Updated

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 07 February 2013
www.olympic.org

IOC Executive Board meeting on 12 and 13 February 2013 in Lausanne - Information for the media - Updated
The Programme for the media has been updated, and a press briefing with the IOC Communications Director, Mark Adams, has been added on Tuesday 12 February at 12 p.m. (CET). For more information including the full programme and details on accreditation, please click here
Press briefing at 12 p.m. on 12 February: teleconference call and playback    
Media representatives who will not be in Lausanne will have the possibility of listening to the press briefing at 12p.m. live on 12 February by teleconference.

The number and access code will be as follows:
Number to dial: +41 91 610 41 20. For a full list of phone numbers in your country, please click
here
PIN code (access code): 2612179#

Media representatives will also have the opportunity to access the audio recording of the aforementioned press briefing on 12 February one hour after it takes place, and for a period of 48 hours. Depending on where they are calling from, participants requesting the digital playback should dial: 
 
+
 
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For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000 email:
pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our website at www.olympic.org.
VideosYouTube: www.youtube.com/iocmedia
PhotosFor an extensive selection of photos available shortly after each event, please follow us on Flickr.
To request archive photos and footage, please contact our Images team at:
images@olympic.org.
====================================

Athletes of the world officially invited to Sochi 2014 with one year to go

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 07 February 2013
www.olympic.org

Athletes of the world officially invited to Sochi 2014 with one year to go
At a ceremony today marking one year to go until the start of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge officially invited the world’s National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and their athletes to take part in the Games.
During the event, President Rogge personally delivered invitations to representatives of the NOCs from the host countries of the previous, next and future editions of the Olympic Winter Games (Canada, Russia and South Korea, respectively), in addition to the NOC of the host country of the next Summer Olympic Games (Brazil). All other invitations will be sent by post from the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The ceremony took place at the Bolshoi Ice Palace in Sochi and was attended by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy, IOC members in Russia Vitaly Smirnov, Shamil Tarpishev and Alexander Popov, and the President of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee Dmitry Chernyshenko.
Accepting the invitations from President Rogge were Canadian Olympic Committee President Marcel Aubut, Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Nuzman, the Chairman of the Korean Olympic Committee’s International Commission, Ji Young Kim, and Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov.
“A year before the start of an Olympic Games is traditionally the time we invite the athletes of the world to take part in the Games, which are a celebration of sport, peace and humanity,” said President Rogge. “These will be the first Olympic Winter Games to be held in Russia, and the Russians are eager to welcome the world to the shores of the Black Sea and the mountains of the Caucasus. A spectacular setting with equally impressive venues await those who qualify – the perfect platform on which to compete. I wish all the athletes hoping to compete here next February all the best in their preparations.”
Sochi 2014 Organising Committee President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said, “Today is a milestone day for us. In just one year’s time we will invite the whole world to Sochi and we are eager to help every guest enjoy the best winter Games in history. I believe we are pretty much where we should be at this point in time. All sports venues in the Mountain and Coastal Clusters are almost ready, and the volunteer selection process for the Sochi Games is approaching the finish line. But now is the time for us to really concentrate and to do our best during this final stage before the Games. We need to make sure that every single aspect of our preparations is aligned as we get ready for this historic event. That is why the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee has already moved into full ‘Olympic mode’ by starting large-scale operational testing of the sports venues. We recognise that it will be vital to ensure that we have perfected all the services that we will deliver for the Games.”
The ceremony, which was covered by media from around the world, featured an ice dancing performance directed by Salt Lake 2002 silver medallist Ilya Averbukh and featured a number of Russia’s most well known figure skating stars such as Irina Slutskaya, Tatiana Navka, Roman Kostomarov, Alexej Yagudin, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. The show brought together over 300 participants and told the story of the preparations for the Sochi 2014 Games from the moment the city was elected in 2007 to today. The celebration concluded with a spectacular firework display.
Sochi will host the XXII Olympic Winter Games from 7 to 23 February 2014.
###
For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000 email: pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our website at
www.olympic.org.
VideosYouTube: www.youtube.com/iocmedia
PhotosFor an extensive selection of photos available shortly after each event, please follow us on Flickr.
To request archive photos and footage, please contact our Images team at:
images@olympic.org.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

from Brent .....

[Effortless Swimming] How To Develop Your Freestyle Catch

Scanave

It's one of the best feelings in swimming.

When you pull in freestyle, you're holding
the water and your body moves easily
past your hand.

It's a skill that takes practice, but it's possible
even if you're a late starter in the sport.

This week we talk about how to develop
freestyle catch so you really feel the water.

Watch the video

Highlights this week:
  • Using the 'inital catch' to hold the water
  • When to start the elbow bend
  • Which drill to use for developing your catch
  • Are you pulling with one lever or two?
Click here to hear more

Regards

Brenton Ford
Effortless Swimming

Catch is one of the most important aspects of freestyle. Click here to see why.

I reply to all emails personally.

Inspirati-va .....


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Sunday, February 3, 2013

Exista posib ilitatea de a organiza competitii fara a tine cont de gen ....?


Da, in cazul folosirii valoriilor date de IPA in contextul aplicarii formulei BEST {vezi raspunsul meu din final ...}



From: The Science of Sport
To: scanave@yahoo.com
Sent: Thu, April 15, 2010 2:10:18 PM
Subject: Let male and female compete together


Posted: 15 Apr 2010 03:37 AM PDT
The abolition of gender categories in sport:  a sound argument?

As a follow up to my
earlier post (see below), I am currently reading a book called "Genetic technology and sport: ethical questions".  And Chapter 15 of this book is titled "The genetic design of a new Amazon".

Below is an excerpt from that chapter.  I'm rewriting it, word for word, to build on what I
wrote about in my earlier post regarding Caster Semenya.  I'd love some debate, and I know you would too!
"We have argued that it (gender categories in sport) should be abolished.  Women and men should compete against one another on equal terms on sports arenas.  The reasons for giving up sexual discrimination within sports, and for allowing individuals of both sexes to compete with each other is simple.  In sports it is crucial that the best person wins.  The sexual differences are simply irrelevant.  If a female athlete can perform better than a male athlete, this female athlete should be allowed to compete with, and beat, the male athlete.  If she cannot beat a certain male athlete, so be it.  If the competition was fair, she should be able to face the fact that he was more talented.  It is really as simple as that.  Sexual discrimination within sports does not have any better rationale than sexual discrimination in any other fields of our lives". - Tamburrin and Tannsjo, Genetic technology and sport
Your thoughts?  Let's throw that open to women everywhere and get their take on it, I'd love to hear.  One thing that strikes me is that we spend a lot of time "telling" and not enough "listening", so I'd love to hear an objective view on the above paragraph.
The debate - can women compete against men in athletic events?

The reason I make this point again, is that this scenario is invited by allowing Caster Semenya to compete as a female on the grounds that she may have a "natural" physiological advantage as a result of an intersex condition.  I'd love your thoughts -
mine are expressed at the end of my previous post.

But, I would hope that the implications of this on the results from the next hundred years of competition would be obvious to everyone - no female athlete makes the top 500 of any athletic, swimming event each year, and so the chance that "a female athlete will perform better than a male athlete" at the top level of competition (Olympic Games) is basically zero.

The counter-points debated

But there's more to say on this.  The chapter continues to say the following, and this time, I've put my immediate thought in maroon alongside each argument, which I've put in italics:

"Many arguments have been readily called forth in objection to our proposal. Here are some of them:
1.Sexual discrimination within sports is no different that the use of, say, different weight classes in certain sports, intended to make the result less predictable. We use sexual discrimination because we seek, to use Warren Fraleigh's term, "the sweet tension of uncertainty of outcome". Comments on this one below... 
2.       If women and men compete, and women defeat men, then this will cause violent responses from men. So we had better retain the discrimination. This point is, sadly, a possibility. But it's not grounds for eliminating discrimination. Fortunately, perhaps, it would never happen in athletics at the top level. 
3.       If we give up sexual discrimination in sports, then probably all women will find, because on average they perform poorly in comparison with men, that they are always defeated by some men. This will be discouraging for women in general and female athletes in particular.   This is exactly the point, except the authors of this piece haven't recognized that it's not a question of "average", but rather that the best female is more than 10% behind the best male - 12 minutes in a marathon (and 20 for most of the top women at the moment), more than 1 second in a 100m race, more than 1 meter in the long jump. These are massive differences, but more on this below.
"The first argument is mistaken. When we discriminate in some sports such as wrestling between different weight-classes, this has to do with the fact that weight is a decisive factor in wrestling, that directly affects the outcome of the competition. But there exist no sports where sex is a decisive factor in that sense: sex is only indirectly related to the outcome of a sports contest."

This is only partly true. Yes, sex is only "indirectly" responsible for the outcome. But it's influence is so large, according to my analysis, that the outcome would all but be decided by it. To repeat (apologies for repetition), the very best women in history do not make the top 500 performances in track and field athletics PER YEAR. In swimming, it may be narrower, but consider that Michael Phelps is a full 26 seconds ahead of the women's world record holder in a 400m medley and you get the idea.   

The result in athletics and swimming is too strongly influenced by sex for the ethical position argued here to hold. I would argue, for example, that a wrestler in the lighter weight division is MORE likely to have a chance of beating a heavyweight than the very best woman has of beating the very best man. Some may disagree.


Perhaps freed of "discrimination", women would narrow this gap.  This is what Tamburrini and Tannsjo argue.  But to leap up from outside the top 500 to challenging even the top 100 - physiologically, that's a stretch of the imagination.  

Tamburrini and Tannsjo, incidentally, continue to argue that in the face of the statistical evidence that no woman will outperform the best men (which they do eventually acknowledge), there should be genetic engineering to help women catch up with men, and that where possible, this should be desirable.  In otherwords, women should seek out genetic engineering to be able to remain competitive in sport!  I'm not sure what to make of this...
Conclusion

I'm going to leave it at that, and invite debate.  I can imagine I may face some hostile emails, and that's OK.  I believe the evidence speaks loudly enough, and I'd encourage people to look into it - look back at historical performances and ask where the women champions would finish in the men's events, and it should become clear.

The reality is that separation of male and female categories, while termed "sexual discrimination" by these ethicists, is actually fundamental to equality of sport.  To apply this to the case of Caster Semenya, what it means is that our categorization of males and females, as flawed and suspect as it may be, demands that the line be defended.  Or removed altogether, and then above is the situation.  But to commit only halfway and permit participation when the gender line is blurred (and seriously, how often does this happen?) is neither here nor there, and damaging for the sport, and the other female athletes in the event.

Physiologically, there is simply too much to overcome.  And I don't believe that's a bad thing.

Ross
The Science of Sport Dr. Ross Tucker Dr. Jonathan Dugas
==========================

Atash Science of sports 19042010 by Mircea Olaru
TO:
The Science of Sport
Dr. Ross Tucker, Dr. Jonathan Dugas
Posted: 15 Apr 2010 03:37 AM PDT
The abolition of gender categories in sport:  a sound argument?

The title and the theme of your article are intriguing as there is an obvious discrepancy between the physical possibilities of a man compared to those of a woman.

This is true considering the classical athletic competition, but let’s not forget that there are sports in which competition between men and women could be fair – for instance ping-pong, shooting, etc.

I also agree to your opinion that there are clear differences between men and women’s abilities, but if we extend the sphere of what sports competition represents, what its purpose and means are, we might find a way to level the field for these two different genders.

Here is my idea and it refers to swimming, the sport you’ve mentioned in your article, with Michael Phelps and his clearly superior records compared to the women’s.

If you can accept that swimming competitions could be done differently, with different objectives, please take a look at the following two ideas, which could allow men and women to compete on equal grounds:

1.       Competing from the point of view of swimming efficiency – fastest, but with the least number of strokes (as in the ancient saying “festina lente”, by Suetonius)
2.      The non-subjective / mathematical separation of competitors into categories, just as in other sports, using a gliding index as reference.

If, by now, haven’t got your interest or approval, please see what the BEST (biomechanical efficiency swimming test) formula means for swimming – and especially the IPA (personal gliding index).( see atash What mean the BEST formula)

This type of competition represents a different approach; not for the sake of being the ‘coolest’, but to demonstrate to oneself and to others that it is possible to swim with great technique regardless of gender.

Those that cannot become Olympic champions can become champions in their own right, relative to the „best technique” criterion, proven against bio-metrically equal competitors.

==


About BEST concept - What mean this new concep…?:
            [attention:he can be aplicated/adapted for more other sport-disciplins]


With this formul we can calculate, very exactly- mathematic way,
 the individual efficiency + the best personal technique of each  swim-style , but she derive from the ancient aforismus – festina lente…! (Suetonius); in the swim-version that means -

 [ P.I.G. + (K] ) - [ Time in sec. + Stroke arms, tempo / 5om ] =   ....
          points of the Biomecanical Efficiency Swimmming Test (B.E.S.T.) ....

*(K) = aleator -100 points.
------------------------
P.I.G. = Personal Index for Gliding ... so

                              [ L. + (K) ] - [ Kgr.+ Q ]

L
. = extrem longer of the body in float position (ventral).
(K) = aleator -100 points.
Kgr. = weith
Q = circumf. of the Torax in max. Expiration (under axile arms)
---------------

M.O. ph.ed, Bucharest, Romania 17 12 08  scanave@rnc.ro