The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that weightlifter Igor Razoronov from Ukraine has committed an Anti-Doping Rules violation at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing.

Igor Razoronov, 38, tested positive for nandrolone on 18 August 2008.

The Disciplinary Commission, composed of Thomas Bach (Chairman), Denis Oswald and John Coates, today decided:

 

The athlete Igor Razoronov, Ukraine, Weightlifting

- is disqualified from the mens’ 105kg weightlifting event, where he had placed sixth;

- is excluded from the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008;

 

- shall have his diploma in the above-noted event withdrawn;

-  shall have his Olympic identity and accreditation card immediately withdrawn and cancelled.

- The International Weightlifting Federation is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.

- The NOC of Ukraine is ordered to return to the IOC, as soon as possible, the diploma awarded to the Athlete in relation to the above-noted event.

- The NOC of Ukraine and BOCOG shall ensure full implementation of this decision.

- The NOC of Ukraine is requested to inform the IOC and the International Weightlifting Federation of the results of the investigation of the special commission set up by the NOC of Ukraine.

- This decision shall enter into force immediately.

Under the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, testing takes place under the IOC's auspices from 27 July to 24 August 2008. Within that period, the IOC systematically performs tests pre and post events. After each event, the IOC systematically carries out tests on the top five athletes plus two at random.

So far, over 4,600 tests have been performed out of the more than 5,000 tests that the IOC anticipates to conduct throughout the period of the Games.

 

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Olympic hockey celebrates its centenary in Beijing, having first been played at the London Games of 1908. This year’s hockey tournament is fast approaching its denouement, with the women’s final being won yesterday by the Netherlands against China, followed today by the men’s final today between Germany and Spain.

Over the 100 years of its history, Olympic hockey has been dominated by one nation above all others. The Indian men’s team have won the gold medal eight times, including six in succession between 1928 and 1956, during which time they notched up 30 wins and no defeats, scoring 197 goals and conceding just eight. Nine of those goals were scored in the 1952 competition by Balbir Singh, a police inspector from Punjab who was known as the “Modern-Day Dhyan Chand”.

Chand himself had been an army captain from Uttar Pradesh who scored 15 goals in the 1928 tournament and went on to score a total of 38 in 12 Olympic matches, winning three gold medals. This latter achievement was matched between 1988-2000 by Australia’s Rechelle Hawkes, the only women’s hockey player to earn three medals, much less three gold medals, and the only one to win medals 12 years apart.

Women’s hockey was first played in 1980, when it produced one of the most unlikely results. Five of the six nations who were scheduled to compete in Moscow withdrew due to the boycott, and Zimbabwe were contacted just five weeks before the Games to make up the numbers. The Zimbabwean team was not even chosen until the weekend before the Games began but they went undefeated throughout the whole campaign to win their country’s first ever gold medal in any sport.

The victory of the Spanish team in 1992 in Barcelona, or Terrassa to be precise, was another very unexpected success, as Spain had no tradition to speak of in the sport but they trained continuously on the Olympic pitches for five months prior to the Games. They reached the final against Germany, and 13 minutes into overtime Eli Maragall, niece of the President of the Barcelona Olympic Organising Committee, made a spectacular dive to deflect the ball into the net for a 2-1 victory.

As the official photography sponsor of the Beijing Games, Kodak is a considerable part of the big picture. The 2.4 million accreditation badges was just one of their many responsibilities. Jenny Cisney is Kodak’s Chief Blogger and first time Olympic Games spectator. She was nice enough to put her multiple pink cameras down to tell us a little bit about herself. 

 

What is your role at the Games?
I manage our blogs and then I also post myself. Writing and posting pictures about Beijing, my experiences at my first Olympic Games, and the local culture. We also have a really great professional photographer taking up close shots of the athletes and he blogs as well at  pluggedin.kodak.com. 

 

What are your impressions of the Olympic Games?
Everything has been running so smoothly, they’re so prepared. And everything has been done with such precision. When they move chairs everyone comes out at once and picks up a chair and they walk out together. It’s making everything run so smoothly and they can just concentrate on the athletes.

 

Why is what Kodak doing at the Olympics so important?
Photography is such a big part of the Olympics. Everyone you see walking around has a camera in their hand and you see them in the stands taking pictures. For us it’s about the photography and capturing the moment. We even have a showcase on the Olympic Green with kiosks where you can put in your memory card or use your cell phone and print out your pictures and take them with you.

 

What kind of photos do you like to take?
I like to take pictures of the people that are watching the events, all the people who have traveled so far to get here. I think that’s exciting to see the emotion and excitement in the people watching the Games.

 

What is something people at home wouldn’t know by watching on TV?
The amount of work it takes to organize the Games. Everyone is so organized. I don’t know when they started planning this but they’ve done a great job. I mean they’ve thought of everything. Like when they do the award ceremonies everyone comes out to set up the podium steps. Somebody had to train all those people.

 

To keep track of Jenny and the rest of the Kodak team’s adventures, go to  www.1000words.kodak.com

Maris Strombergs of Latvia has won the gold medal in men's BMX cycling, holding off American stars Mike Day and Donny Robinson for the title. Strombergs took control from the start and remained in the lead the whole way, claiming the first-ever BMX Olympic men's gold on Friday. Anne-Caroline Chausson of France has won the first ever Olympic gold medal for BMX, finishing first in the high-speed eight-rider women's final. Her compatriot Laetitia Le Corguille took the silver, with Jill Kintner of the United States in bronze position.

 

Fast, young and fun
Making its Olympic debut in Beijing is one of the fastest and youngest cycling sports – BMX racing! With eight riders racing along a dirt track littered with jumps, banked corners and obstacles, this new cycling discipline is a spectacular addition to the Olympic Games programme.

 

From California…
Like so many fashionable sports, BMX cycling began in experimental 1960s California, and has grown in popularity since, with teenagers and young adults keen to enjoy an exciting and inexpensive action-packed activity.

…. to Bejiing
The Olympic BMX course at Laoshan, 50km south of the main Olympic velodrome, is 370m long for men, 350m long for women, and features a huge starting hill eight metres high. Eight riders, just centimetres from each other, propel themselves to speeds close to 65 km/h, allowing them to jump up to 14 metres. A field of 32 male riders (16 riders in the women's event) will compete, with the top four finishers in each heat moving up to the next level.