Olympic Newsdesk - Peace and Sport Bidding; Korea House; Black Sea Day

11/1/2011

New Hosts Wanted for Peace and Sport

Bidding is underway for cities to host Peace and Sport's annual international forums beginning in 2014.

For the first time ever, the event will be held outside Monaco in Sochi in 2012. Every alternating year, the forum will return to Monaco.

The organizing body is now inviting cities to stage the event in 2014 and 2016.

“Bringing the Forum to new territories aims to encourage an even wider participation and to reinforce international cooperation for sustainable peace,” says a bidding brochure made available to Around the Rings.

Peace and Sport founder and president Joel Bouzou told ATR last week in Monte Carlo that taking the forum elsewhere will help spread the overall message of his organization.

"It makes sense to go to other continents progressively and export the forum, keeping the neutral gender of the forum but exporting the forum to other continents to spread our message to touch new publics and to tackle new issues,” he said in this week’s Tuesday Talk.

Interested cities must send a letter of interest to the organizing body by January to stage the forum in 2014. Peace and Sport will then run a workshop for all shortlisted cities on the bid process.

NOC Selects “Korea House” in London

The Royal Thames Yacht Club will transform into Korea House for the London 2012 Olympics.

“It is with great appreciation that Team Korea is welcomed to one of London’s most prestigious centers of cultural ambience and tradition,” said Korean Olympic Committee president Y.S. Park.

“The rich atmosphere and kind reception staff of the Clubhouse inspires harmony and friendship for the promotion of international cooperation that will be housed there during the Games.”

Situated in the upscale neighborhood of Knightsbridge, the house will have a dining room overlooking Hyde Park. It's also near the IOC hotel for 2012.

Sochi 2014 Celebrates Black Sea Day

Sochi 2014 wraps up an educational initiative this week about protecting the Black Sea’s environment.

Olympic organizers, the city’s administration and Coca-Cola teamed up Monday for an event titled “Clean Sea for Clean City” in honor of Black Sea Day.

School children, university students and volunteers cleaned up the environment throughout Russia and an educational “eco-town” set up in Sochi.

There was also a roundtable discussion dedicated to raising environmental awareness. Some of the educational material introduced at the event will be used in classrooms around Russia.

Triathlon Correction

In an Oct. 29 story titled “London Latest - Anticipation Among Olympic Media Builds for 2012,” Around the Rings erroneously referred to Masa Takaya as a former communications director for the International Triathlon Union.

As one of two communication managers, Takaya reported to senior communications manager Paula Kim before his July departure for the Japanese Olympic Committee.

ATR regrets the editing error.

Media Watch

National Public Radio reports on Rio de Janeiro’s ongoing work rejuvenating its favelas ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Written by Ann Cantrell.

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