The Disciplinary Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reached a decision in the case of an anti-doping rule violation committed by Ms Fani Chalkia.

Samples provided by Ms Chalkia on the 10th August in Fukui, Japan during a pre-competition doping control test, proved positive for the banned substance Methyltrienolone; a steroid with potentially serious effects on health.

The IOC’s Medical Director, Dr Patrick Schamasch, was informed of the positive result on 16th August. At the athlete’s request the ‘B’ sample was tested on 17th August. Later that day this sample also proved positive for the same banned substance. The Greek NOC consequently suspended Ms Chalkia and she left the Olympic Village.

The IOC Disciplinary Commission praised the Greek NOC for its decisive action and cooperation. Meeting today, the Commission; Thomas Bach (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Denis Oswald, reached the following decision:

I. The athlete Fani Chalkia, Greece, Athletics:

(i) is excluded from the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008;

(ii) shall have her Olympic identity and accreditation card immediately cancelled.

II.          The Athlete’s file shall be transmitted to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which is requested to consider any further action within its own competence.

III.         The NOC of Greece and BOCOG shall ensure full implementation of this decision.

IV.        The IOC Disciplinary Commission will report the matter to the competent Greek authorities, with a request to investigate possible violations of Greek law, in particular by the coach, George Panagiotopoulos.

V.         The IOC reserves its right to take sanctions or measures in relation to the Athlete’s coach, George Panagiotopoulos.

VI.        This decision shall enter into force immediately.

A feature of the decision is that the Commission took the step of deciding to notify the Greek authorities of its concerns regarding possible violations of Greek law by Ms Chalkia’s coach, Mr George Panagiotopoulos.

This decision shows the determination of the IOC to broaden the fight against doping to those behind athletes.

 

IOC Disciplinary Commission decision regarding Ms Fani Chalkia

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The 2008 Olympic rowing competition has reached its climax over the past two days with a total of 14 gold medals awarded - eight to the men and six to the women.

 

Looking back to the Olympic history of rowing, seven was the magic number as far as Romania’s Elisabeta Lipa was concerned. The most decorated of all Olympic rowers, Lipa won seven medals in total at five different Olympic Games, with at least one medal at each Games. In 2000 in Sydney, Lipa, who made her living working for the Romanian equivalent of the CIA, became the oldest oarswoman to win a gold medal in the eight with coxswain event at the Games.

 

 Elisabeta LIPA
Rowing (Romania)

 

Single sculls masters
Having won the double sculls in 1984, Lipa shares the record for most years between gold medals (16) with Britain’s Steve Redgrave, the only rower to earn gold medals at five consecutive Games. Redgrave’s victories came in fours and pairs between 1984 and 2000. Meanwhile, Vyacheslav Ivanov of the Soviet Union (1956-1964) and Pertti Karppinen (1976-1984), a two-metre tall fireman from Finland, share the distinction of being the only men to win the single sculls on three separate occasions.

 

 Steven REDGRAVE
Rowing (Great Britain)

 

Rowing made an inauspicious start to its Olympic career – included in the programme for the first Games in 1896, it was cancelled owing to bad weather. Four years later a boy was plucked from the streets of Paris to act as cox for the Dutch team in the paired-oar event and, after steering them to the gold medal, joining in the victory ceremony and having his photograph taken, he disappeared back into obscurity, his name unknown to this day. He was quite possibly the youngest champion in Olympic history.

 

Certainly the youngest since then was 11-year-old Carlos Front, coxswain for the Spanish eight in 1992, the final of which was the closest rowing final in Olympic history, Canada beating Romania by less than 30 centimetres. Finally, back in Paris but this time in 1924, a member of the Yale University crew that won the coxed eights for the USA was Ben Spock, who 20 years later wrote The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care which went on to sell more than 35 million copies.

 

 

 

Without the fans, Olympic athletes would just be performing for rows of stadium seats. So needless to say, the spectators are a big part of the Summer Games. Fans come from around the world to watch their home team go for the gold. And when they’re not cheering in the crowd, you can find them walking around the Olympic Green. We met Flavia Fonseca and her friend Mardonildo Olimpio Fo from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and asked her a few questions about herself.

 

Artistic gymnastics for the women’s team final. We saw Brazil play: very bad, but it was important because it was the first time Brazil’s team was in the final for artistic gymnastics.  Afterwards we lunched in McDonald’s, took some photos in front of the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest, and then went down to the Kodak Zone and Coca-Cola and all the partners before stopping in the official shop of the Olympics.

 

What brought you to Beijing?
The major reason was the Olympics. If it were not for the Games we would never have had a reason to come here. But we are very impressed about the people’s behaviour in Beijing. They are totally friendly and open to help. Every time we asked for some information in the street it was a pleasurable experience; and not just the volunteers, but also the citizens.

 

Why do you think the Olympics are so important?
I think the Olympics are such a big deal because of the unity of the countries. I think sport means everything that’s good. When you win, you learn something and when you lose, you also learn a lot of things. The power of sport is something you cannot measure.

 

How much longer are you in Beijing for?
Tomorrow we leave for Japan for a week. We’re just finishing one week here, where we had five days of sporting events and two days of sightseeing. It was perfect.

 

 

Technology: we all use it and need it, but most of us can barely understand it. The technology that is needed to produce the Summer Games is no different, and is more complicated than most of us could ever comprehend. Luckily Beijing has Atos Origin.

 

200,000 accreditation badges
The international information technology services company has been working with the Olympic Games since 1992, and this year is no different. Currently Atos Origin is leading a team of over 4,000 IT professionals in order to provide the technical infrastructure for all 75 venues (including the 32 competition venues). Some of the things they are in charge of are providing security against hackers; managing the IT system behind the production of accreditation badges that will be used by 200,000 athletes, volunteers, coaches, officials, staff and media; and supplying the link between partner products. Sounds easy enough? Now consider the fact that there are events taking place in seven different cities across China. Can you imagine the equipment needed to keep everyone in close contact with one another? For this reason, more than 1,000 servers, 10,000 PCs and 4,000 printers are needed for them to do their job.

 

On schedule, within budget
And just because you can never be too sure, Atos Origin coordinated testing programmes four years prior to the Opening Ceremony in order to ensure the reliability of the system come 8 August 2008.  According to Yang Yichun, Director of BOCOG Technology, the hard work has paid off. “As the IT Partner of the Games, Atos Origin has consistently met our expectations and has delivered the IT system and infrastructure on schedule, within budget, and with high quality. The effective transfer of knowledge gained by Atos Origin in previous Games is also very conducive to building, deploying, testing and managing the IT systems for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.”

 

 Find out more about Atos Origin

Do you know where past Olympic Games were held? Do you know where future Olympic Games will be held?   In a quiz on the official website of the International Olympic Committee www.olympic.org you can test your knowledge!

 

What do you have to do?  How can you win? All you need to do is score over 4,000 points in the host city challenge or the national pride game. Once you have achieved this goal you will be given access to the form where you register and become eligible for the draw. This draw to determine the winners will be held after the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Games.

 

 Click here and win!