ANOC announces composition of 2015 ANOC Commissions and Working Groups

Lausanne; 20 March 2015: The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) today announced the chairs and vice-chairs of the ANOC Commissions and Working Group members for 2015 as it continues to strive to find innovative ways to develop and improve the support it offers its 205 NOCs.

The members of the nine Commissions and Working Groups will be responsible this year for implementing the action plans which were presented to, and approved by, the ANOC General Assembly in Bangkok on 8-9 November 2014. The nine Commissions and Working Groups were launched in December 2013 as part of ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah’s commitment to implementing a process of reform and modernisation across the organisation.

The chairs and vice-chairs of the ANOC Commissions and Working Groups can be found below:

Finance and Audit Commission

Chair: Richard Peterkin (Saint Lucia)

Juridical Commission

Chair: Michael Chambers (Canada)

Marketing and New Sources of Finance

Chair: Larry Probst III (USA)

Youth Working Group

Chair: Lord Sebastian Coe (UK)

International Relations Commission

Chair: Julio Cesar Maglione (Uruguay)

Vice Chair: Thomas Sithole (Zimbabwe)

Athletes’ Commission

Chair: Barbara Kendall (New Zealand)

Medical Commission

Chair: Robin Mitchell (Fiji)

Modernisation Follow-up Commission

Chair: Kevan Gosper (Australia)

ANOC Events Working Group

Chair: Timothy Fok (Hong Kong)

 

ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah said:

“When I took over as President of ANOC in April 2012 one of my core objectives was to develop our organisation and the support we provide our 205 NOCs. By establishing nine ANOC Commissions and Working Groups we have been able to leverage the vast experience and expertise we have within our membership and create a platform for them to meet regularly, discuss the most pressing issues facing NOCs and identify and implement solutions.

“The Commissions and Working Groups did a fantastic job last year in presenting comprehensive action plans for 2015 to the ANOC General Assembly. Under the leadership of the IOC and Olympic Agenda 2020 we have seen the importance of ensuring that collaborative discussions lead to decisions and definite action. After a year of conception, 2015 will be the year of implementation for ANOC. We have shown over the last three years that we are an organisation which delivers on its promises and we are committed to continuing to do just that. The initiatives proposed by the Commissions and Working Groups will directly benefit the NOCs and their athletes and improve the support we offer them.”

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FEMALE BOXERS Lorissa Rivas and Swedish world champion Mikaela Lauren scored convincing knock out victories and exchanged fighting words ahead of their showdown next month for Lauren’s World Boxing Council (WBC) super-welterweight title.
In what served as warm-up bouts for both Lauren and Rivas, at the Jean Pierre Complex Saturday night, the pair stopped their respective opponents.
Rivas (seven wins, three defeats), a US-based fighter with Trinidad and Tobago roots, sent Guyanese Sharon “Iron Jaw” Warde (eight wins, six defeats) to the canvas for the first time in Warde’s career.
Warde had to be attended to by the ringside doctor before she rose from the mat roughly three minutes after the knockout punch in the fifth round.
Rivas then crossed paths with Lauren, who was making her entrance to the ring for her bout against Colombia’s Celia Road Sierra. Rivas and Lauren exchanged barbs. In the main co-feature bout, the 39-year-old Lauren (24 wins, 3 defeats) sent a feisty Sierra to the canvas at 1.13 into the third round.

Results

Lt. Heavyweight (4 rounds)
Sheldon Lawrence (T&T)  vs. Romeo Norville (Guy.)
Lawrence scored 1st round TKO victory over Norville

Super-middleweight (6 rounds)
Joel McRae (Guy) vs. Carlos Leal (Ven.)
McRae scored 1st round KO over Norville

Catch weight (6 rounds)
Prince-Lee Isidore (T&T) vs. Ian Blue (T&T)
Isidore scored third round TKO over Blue

(Women) Super-middleweight (6 rounds)
Lorissa Rivas (USA) vs. Sharon Warde (Guy)
Rivas scored fifth round TKO over Warde

(Women) Super-welter
weight (6 rounds)
Mikaela Lauren (Sweden) vs. Celia Road Sierra (Colombia)
Lauren scored third round TKO over Sierra

Heavyweight (4 rounds)
Dwayne Hinds (T&T) vs. Kenneth ‘Iron Man” Bishop (T&T)
Bishop won by a unanimous decision

Mixed Martial Arts

(Bout 1 - 150 lbs)
Ande Lackhan (Bio Mel Boxing Gym) vs. Randy Sooknarine (Rough House)
— Sooknarine won by submission

(Bout 2 - 170 lbs)
Brandon La Croix vs. Sion Elder — La Croix scored first round TKO over Elder

British middle-distance great Sebastian Coe has a vision to showcase track and field on non-traditional stages.

“I want the sport to start being delivered in more creative ways, not always in the stadium. I want it to take to the streets, to shopping centres. It’s got to attract people that wouldn’t normally go into a stadium.”

Coe was speaking at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, on Friday evening, shortly after arriving in the country. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president was on a short visit, to seek the support of the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) in his bid for the IAAF presidency.

Coe, a double Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist, is running against another former Olympic champion, Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka for leadership of track and field’s world governing body. Bubka is also a vice-president of the IAAF. The election will be held in August in Beijing, China.

At Friday’s press conference, NAAA president Ephraim Serrette was non-committal on which of the candidates his organisation would back for the IAAF presidency.

“We welcome the visit of Seb to share with us his vision and how it could help Trinidad and Tobago as a federation,” said Serrette.

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” Coe quipped, in response.

Coe applauded enthusiastically when T&T’s first Olympic gold medallist, Hasely Crawford was introduced. Later, they shared a warm greeting.

“This is an extraordinary region of the world,” Coe told the local media. “You have delivered and developed and nurtured and coached some of the greatest athletes that have ever set foot on a track. And we need to make sure that the next generation of Haselys is there. And they won’t be, unless we deliver the sport in a different way.”

Coe declared that T&T would benefit if he succeeds Lamine Diack as IAAF president.

“I want to create a structure at headquarters that more closely reflects the demands of the federation. I know you’ve done some very interesting things here, particularly around throws, bringing in outside coaches to help you deliver the sport. We should be sitting alongside you doing that. I’m not always sure we are.

“Competition,” the former 800m world record holder continued, “is our shop window. Head-to-heads are what gets my kids up in the morning. They’ll get up at three or four o’clock in the morning to watch the final of the Australian Open if it’s Federer and Nadal. We need to get head-to-heads. We need to get the excitement that track and field can engender.”

T&T Olympic Committee (T&TOC) president Brian Lewis spoke highly of Coe during Friday’s press conference.

“He’s been credited with playing an influential role in the London 2012 Olympic Games, widely considered in the Olympic movement to be the best ever. And Lord Sebastian Coe, during the build-up to the London Games, always treated the small Olympic Committees, such as Trinidad and Tobago, fairly. His track record as someone who places the best interest of sport and the Olympic movement is well-established.”

Abilene Wildcats’ Kyle Greaux stole the spotlight at the 2015 Southern Games when he captured gold in the men’s 200 metres and 400 metres events at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, yesterday.
In the half-lap event, Memphis Pioneers’ Emmanuel Callender was quickest out of the blocks and led the field entering the homestretch, but Greaux would change gears to surge past his rival and pull away to win in a time of 20.84 seconds. Callender held second in 21.15 while Kevin Haynes of Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force was third in 21.32.
Earlier on the programme, Greaux powered to victory in the 400 metres event from Haynes and Kern Alexis of Memphis Pioneers. He stopped the clock in 47.73 seconds with Haynes and Alexis returning times of 48.19 and 48.24, respectively.
Kamaria Durant of Simplex was also a double gold medallist when she copped the women’s sprint double. She opened with gold in the 100 metres in a time of 11.78 seconds, from her club mate Onika Murray, 12.09, and Point Fortin’s Mauricia Prieto, also in 12.09.
In the 200 metres event, Durant took command of the race at the top of the homestretch to win easing down in 23.66 seconds, despite getting a late challenge from Prieto, who returned in 23.89. Murray bagged bronze in a time of 24.44 seconds.
And UTT Fast Track’s Josh Hamilton took the blue riband event with a golden 10.64 run in the men’s 100 metres. Hamilton was pressed all the way be his club mate Le Sean Noel and Joel Dillon of Simplex but maintained enough top end speed to get home. Noel returned in 10.66 for silver while Dillon collected bronze in 10.70.
Trinidad and Tobago’s World 400-metre hurdles champion, Jehue Gordon and Clifton Sylvester of the Defence Force turned the men’s invitational 800 metres into a two-man affair when they treated patrons to a prolonged stretch duel. Sylvester took up the running at the bell with Gordon in close attendance before drawing level coming off the final bend.
However, the Defence Force athlete dug deep to surge back in front over the final 40 metres to stop the clock at one minute, 54:71 seconds. Gordon had to settle for silver in 1:54:83 with George Smith, also of Defence Force, third in 1:55:32.
In the women’s invitational 800 metres, Memphis Pioneers’ Alena Brooks made amends for her second place finish in the 400 metres when she repelled the challenge of her club mate Dawnell Collymore to win in a time of two minutes, 11:68 seconds.
Similar to the men’s version, the two pulled away from the field to fight it out among themselves as Collymore would throw down her challenge entering the top of the homestretch. However, Brooks had enough left in her tank and held on gamely for the win. Collymore returned in 2:12:11 and Guyana’s Andrea Foster, third in 2:14:76.
And in the Boy’s U20 800 metres, Ashton Gill of Cougars romped to victory in one minute, 58:14 seconds. Abilene Wildcats’ Jeremiah Hamilton was second in 1:59:93 with Petrotrin Palo Seco’s Kriston Yahkarhim third in 2:00:82.
Ramona Modeste won gold in the women’s 400 metres event when she home ahead of Brooks and Danielle David of Point Fortin. The Abilene Wildcats’ quarter-miler stopped the clock at 55.12 seconds with Brooks returning in 55.77 and David, 57.86.
Cuba’s Livan Reyes was a facile winner of the men’s open invitational 5,000 metres event. Reyes took up the running on the second lap and would lead a group of five; Kirk Brown of Jamaica, St Lucia’s Jason Sayers, Pamenos Ballantyne of St Vincent and Jules La Rode, which separated themselves from the rest of the field.
At the bell he held a 40-metre advantage on Brown but would lengthen his strides to come home well clear in a time of 15 minutes, 29:73 seconds. Brown held second in 15:40:22 from Ballantyne, who was third in 15:43:14.
In the men’s invitational 1,500 metres event, Smith of Defence Force defied a spirited challenge from Guyana’s Cleveland Forde to prevail in four minutes, 02:62 seconds.
Forde returned in 4:02:90 with Sylvester third in 4:03:54. And Collymore emerged victorious in the women’s version in four minutes, 41:55 seconds. Linda Mc Dowel of St Vincent was second in 4:44:15 and Jamaica’s Danielle James, third in 4:48:47.

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Sebastian Coe says he is self-funding trips to about 100 countries all over the world as part of his bid to become the boss of world athletics.

In an interview with Stuff.co.nz, Coe said his short stop in New Zealand was part of about 100 nations he has visited so far in preparation for the presidential election for the International Association of Athletics Federations in August.

Coe refused to say how much his flight, accommodation and expense costs for the trips had run up to but when asked how they would be covered, he said: "I've got a very understanding wife.

"I've been to many, many countries. It's certainly must be getting on for nearly one hundred," Coe said.

"A couple of weeks ago I was in Brazil, meeting with the 13 South American federation presidents, a few weeks before that I was in Egypt, in Sharm el-Sheikh, just before Christmas I met with 22 Arab-speaking nations, so yes, I'm travelling a lot.

"Today I fly off to the Gold Coast, to the Oceania track and field convention, and in a couple of weekends I'm in the Caribbean.

"I have a very understanding wife.

"That [self-funding] is how the campaign is being run at the moment.

"It's important, I think if you have the temerity to offer yourself up as president, I think it's incumbent upon you to understand the challenges of those federations you're wanting support from.

"Athletics is probably the most global of sports out there."

Coe, who is an IAAF vice-president, said his personal financial sacrifice was a reflection of how seriously he was taking his bid to go one chair higher in the organisation.

"I think it's something you have to do, I don't think you can pretend a campaign is only about listening to people that are in your own continent or in your own back yard.

"It's a global sport, there are global challenges and it's important someone stepping up to the plate understands what those challenges are."

Double Olympic champion Coe, who is also the chairman of the British Olympic Association and the man who ran London's 2012 Olympic Games, and Ukrainian pole vault icon Sergey Bubka are the front-runners in the race to be made IAAF boss in August.

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The 33rd annual Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago (SOTT) National Games will be officially declared open today by President Anthony Carmona. The opening ceremony, which starts at 8am, will be held at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo with action in the various sports taking place until Sunday.

Today, athletics, football and bocce will be held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium while basketball bounces off at the Woodbrook Youth Facility. Powerlifting will be held at the Long Circular Fitness Centre with volleyball serving off at the Jean Pierre Complex.

Action continues tomorrow with aquatics at the Diego Martin Community Pool, equestrian (TT Police Service Mounted Branch), bocce and football (Hasely Crawford Stadium) also scheduled.

There will be a gala concert at 5.30pm today which has been organised in association with the Digicel Foundation.

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