Probst up for IOC membership

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- It's nearly four years ago now that Chicago got thumped when the International Olympic Committee voted for the 2016 Summer Games host city. For the U.S. Olympic Committee, that was, indisputably, the low point.

It's worth bearing in mind all the time and miles in between then and now amid Tuesday's announcement by the International Olympic Committee of the nomination of nine new members, U.S. Olympic Committee board chair Larry Probst among them.

Probst's membership is for sure a milestone. Over time, it's likely to means more influence for the United States within the IOC, and as the USOC is considering bids for future Games -- in particular, as soon as 2024 -- that could be key.

At the same time, the United States still has a long, long way to go in becoming a power player in the IOC along the lines of, say, Switzerland, with five members.

For now, what Probst's membership marks is, simply, yet another step in the USOC's effort at quiet diplomacy.

He  -- and the other new members - will be sworn in at the end of the all-members assembly in September in Buenos Aires. They will not, repeat not, take part in the voting there.

At that September session, the IOC will elect a new president, replacing Jacques Rogge, who has been in office since 2001, as well as pick the site of the 2020 Summer Games. Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul are in the race. All three bid cities are making presentations here Wednesday in Lausanne to the full IOC. All six presidential candidates are likewise making presentations Thursday.

Four new athlete members, meanwhile, are due to be sworn in Wednesday. They were elected in voting from the London Games and will be eligible to vote in September.

When the nine new members are brought on board, assuming no other changes, that will bring the IOC membership to 113, spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday.

Notable among the nine -- only one is from Asia, Mikaela Maria Antonia Cojuangco-Jaworski of the Philippines.

The list includes famed long-distance runner Paul Tergat of Kenya and Athens 2004 high-jump champion Stefan Holm of Sweden.

It also features the head of the Russian national Olympic committee, Alexander Zhukov. The next Winter Olympics, in February, will be held in Sochi.

Russia will then have four members.

The U.S., too -- when Probst is sworn in, the Americans will count him, Anita DeFrantz, Jim Easton and Angela Ruggiero.

Even so, the U.S. has for years lacked significant political influence within the IOC.

DeFrantz has been a member since 1986. She served on the policy-making executive board from 1992 to 2001. She has since run for office unsuccessfully; she is standing this September again for the board.

Easton has in recent years played a markedly reduced role.

Ruggiero is widely seen as an up-and-comer. At the same time, as an athlete member, she is already three years through her fixed term of eight years.

Thus Probst's entry is widely seen as an important step in bringing back a measure of American influence.

"The U.S. is a very strong and important partner of the IOC," Adams said at a briefing Tuesday at the IOC's Lake Geneva headquarters, the Chateau de Vidy. "Larry's nomination is a sign of that and a sign of continuing cooperation with the USOC."

For his part, Probst said in a statement released by the USOC, “I am truly honored to be nominated for membership in the IOC, and extremely grateful for the potential opportunity to serve the Olympic Movement."

Last year, the USOC and IOC resolved a longstanding dispute over certain television and marketing revenues. Probst's nomination is a reflection of that ongoing USOC-IOC "cooperation." It is by no means a quid pro quo for the deal.

Probst becomes the first USOC president -- as the jargon goes -- as IOC member since Sandy Baldwin. That's 11 years ago.

Bill Hybl served as USOC president and IOC member for two years, 2000-01.

Before that, you have to go back to Bob Helmick. He stepped down in 1991.

Again, Probst's entry is important. But it's just one step. It must be reiterated that the USOC has to be thinking in terms of the long run in assessing the political calculus of a Games bid.

Consider:

There are 35 Olympic sports, summer and winter. The United States has no presidents among any of those 35 federations. It has one -- just one -- secretary general from among any of the 35, Svein Romstad, who runs the luge federation from, of all places, Atlanta.

Last year, American Doug Beal ran for the presidency of the international volleyball federation. The convention and election were held in Anaheim, Calif. Even so, he did not win.

The United States does, in fact, boast some international sports federation presidents. But they are not Olympic sports. They are in sports such as softball, surfing and cheerleading.

Then again, the situation now is better -- way better -- than in October, 2009, when Chicago got rocked.

U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati was elected in April to a four-year term to the FIFA executive committee.

USA Basketball chief executive Jim Tooley is in line to become FIBA Americas president for 2014-18.

Max Cobb, the USA Biathlon president and chief executive, heads the International Biathlon Union's technical committee.

These things, simply, take time.

This is what Probst came to understand in Copenhagen in October, 2009.

Before that, he did not totally understand how demanding the USOC board chairman's job was. Nor did he grasp fully how much time and how much travel it was going to take.

The next January, Scott Blackmun came on board as the USOC's chief executive.

Together, they vowed to repair the USOC's standing in international relations.

They said, privately and publicly, that relationship-building took time and effort. They said they were in it for the long haul.

Instead of sending staffers to meetings, Probst or Blackmun -- sometimes both -- started showing up.

Now, Probst and Blackmun serve on IOC committees. Probst is, as well, on the board of the Assn. of National Olympic Committees.

Blackmun, for that matter, is here in Lausanne for the second time in three weeks. He was here the first time for the ANOC assembly and is back now for an IOC marketing commission meeting.

It's active engagement. That's what it takes. That's what got Probst nominated Tuesday.

It's going to take more -- a lot more -- to win the United States an Olympic Games. Everyone should keep that in mind.

What does the sheikh want?

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Marius Vizer was elected president Friday of SportAccord, the umbrella organization of international sports federations. Ordinarily, this development would be consigned to the sports section's back pages, and understandably.

In this instance, however, Vizer's election signals the undeniable emergence of significant trends and personalities with increasingly significant roles within the international sports movement in this year of even more important elections and, looking out to the coming years, beyond.

Vizer, 54, a Romanian-born Hungarian who is president of the international judo federation, defeated Bernard Lapasset of France, president of the international rugby board. The tally: 52-37.

SportAccord represents both Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations.

Vizer succeeds Hein Verbruggen, the former international cycling federation president, who had been SportAccord president since 2004.

Verbruggen has long been seen within the movement as a close associate of the current IOC president, Jacques Rogge. An element in Friday's voting is that Lapasset was seen, rightly or wrongly, as the candidate more likely to be affiliated with the establishment.

The core of Vizer's winning platform: the notion of transforming SportAccord into a new power base. He envisions a "United World Championships" every four years for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports. He said he hopes the first such event, with 91 sports, could be organized in 2017.

Such an event could, of course, be seen as a direct threat to the Games themselves.

Moreover, that summer of 2017, per their regular cycles, the swimming and track and field federations -- among others -- are due to stage their own world championships.

The allure of a new mega-event, particularly for federations not affiliated with the Olympics, is easy to understand: the possibility of more money.

That said, it remains to be seen whether such an event can -- or will -- be organized, and what the IOC's response over time will be.

At a news conference wrapping up the 2013 SportAccord convention, noting that his 12 years as IOC president will end in about three months, Rogge said Friday he expects Vizer and his successor -- whoever it will be -- to "come together and to discuss collaboration."

Then he added, "if you ask my personal opinion," cautioning, "I am nearing the level of my irrelevance" because his term is so close to ending, the sports calendar is already too crowded -- as another sports body, the Assn. of Summer Olympic International Federations, suggested just a few days ago.

In the minutes after the vote, Vizer told reporters, "The Olympic spirit and Olympic Games are something very different and special.

"They have to be happy with my plan to bring additional resources to sport and finance the base of sport. They don't have to worry because it's a different event with a different background, a different strategy."

Voting Friday was done by secret ballot.

And the balloting showed -- yet again -- the political strength within the movement, indeed international sports, of Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait. Just moments after the election results were announced, the two hugged in victory.

An obvious question raised by many Olympic insiders -- with no immediate answer -- is what Friday's results mean for the sheikh and the role he will play, or wants to play, in the IOC presidential election Sept. 7 in Buenos Aires.

Six candidates have declared for the post: Thomas Bach of Germany; Ser Miang Ng of Singapore; Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico; C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei; Denis Oswald of Switzerland; and Sergei Bubka of Ukraine.

At issue is how many of them can claim allegiances to the sheikh, or want to -- or, for that matter, would want to.

Also this: what does the sheikh want? And why?

Such matters, understandably, can prove delicate as the politics of the moment unwind.

Even so, some connections are hardly a secret. Bach, for instance, is up front on his Olympic C.V. about the fact that he is president of the Ghorfa Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with ties throughout the Gulf region. "They are good colleagues," said a Bach spokesman.

The sheikh, 49, has been an IOC member since 1992. He was chairman of OPEC from 2003-2005 and has served in various Kuwaiti ministries for years, since 2006 as its minister of national security.

Since 1991, he has been president of the Olympic Council of Asia; last year, at a meeting in Moscow, he took over as president of the Assn. of National Olympic Committees, replacing the venerable Mario Vazquez Raña of Mexico. ANOC represents the world's 204 national Olympic bodies. The vote: 174 in his favor, one against, two abstentions.

He said then that his leadership would include a "vision to help the underdeveloped countries' national Olympic committees."

In his new role, the sheikh also now oversees the IOC"s Olympic Solidarity Commission, a program that aims to provide financial, technical and administrative assistance to national Olympic committees, particularly those in developing nations.

Its 2009-2013 budget: $435 million, up nearly 40 percent from the 2009-12 cycle's $311 million.

Again, and for emphasis, the sheikh has been president of the confederation of the world's largest continent, a group that obviously includes Japan and China, and has done so non-stop since 1991, when he was still in his 20s, from Kuwait, where in an apparent nod to his influence, the IOC held an executive board meeting in 2006.

Last November, Bach publicly noted the import of the OCA, saying in a statement issued by the confederation, "The OCA is a very flourishing continental association with many activities."

Making matters all the more remarkable, the national Olympic committee of Kuwait was suspended for two years -- from early in 2010 until just before last year's London Games -- because of complexities relating to what the IOC perceived as governmental interference in committee autonomy.

In recent years, the sheikh is widely believed to have played a significant role in electing Wu to the IOC's policy-making executive board, as well as Patrick Hickey of Ireland.

Earlier this month, the sheikh played a pivotal role in seeing Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa become the top figure in Asian soccer circles -- at elections in Malaysia, first becoming president of the Asian Football Confederation, then defeating Qatar 2022 World Cup organizing committee chief Hassan al-Thawadi to claim a vacant spot on the FIFA executive committee.

In both cases, Sheikh Salman had to defeat the friends and former associates of a longtime Qatari rival, Mohamed bin Hammam, whom FIFA had expelled for alleged corruption.

Now Vizer.

Bach, asked about Vizer and his plan for a super-sized world championships, like Rogge cited the ASOIF opposition to the already jam-packed calendar and said, "From the IOC, the point of view, the IOC will not agree to any kind of idea which would dilute the uniqueness and the image of the Olympic Games.

"We will have to see what the ideas of Mr. Vizier, whom I congratulate on his elections, will be now after the elections. Sometimes," he said, "there are slight differences in the attitudes before and after the elections."

IOC short-lists three sports

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- The ballroom here at the Lenexpo Convention Center here was jammed. TV crews and photographers assumed their positions, cameras trained on wrestling supporters in the front row of audience seats, immediately behind the ladies and gentlemen of the press. The tension was thick. Up on the dais, Mark Adams, the International Olympic Committee's spokesman, started to explain that the IOC's policy-making executive board had Wednesday afternoon decided to short-list just three sports for review this September by the all-members assembly in Buenos Aires. Everyone did quick math. Three sports in. That meant five were out. Which three?

Adams started to read off the first of the three: "Wrestling," he said, and in the instant before the place erupted someone in the wresting group summed it all with just one word that echoed across the hall: "Yeah!"

It took several long moments before order was restored, and Adams could then read off the other two: "Baseball and softball," he said, and then, "With apologies to the others, squash."

With that, the IOC sought to turn the page in one of the most convoluted procedural and substantive fixes it has ever produced. Time, and only time, will tell whether it got this just right -- or profoundly wrong.

Cut were sport climbing, karate, roller sports, wakeboarding and the Chinese martial art of wushu.

In a statement, IOC president Jacques Rogge noted that "it was never going to be an easy decision" but this was a "good decision."

Thomas Bach, an IOC vice president and leading candidate to succeed Rogge in voting for the IOC presidency, said, "This is a good mixture between team sports, individual sports and martial arts."

The executive board voting Wednesday -- which followed 30-minute presentations by each of the eight sports -- proved complex. A sport made it through with a majority vote of the 14-member board; Rogge, a 15th potential ballot, did not vote.

The first round did not portend what was to come: wrestling made it through in just one ballot, with a majority of 8. The second round then took seven ballots before the combined baseball/softball bid defeated karate, 9-5. Squash got through in three rounds in the third with a majority of 8.

The IOC will pick one of the three -- or, perhaps, none -- in voting Sept. 8.

If the full membership selects wrestling for the sole vacant spot on the program, then the review process will have resulted in, essentially, no change -- at a time when the IOC is keen to be seen to be more vibrant in reaching out to a younger audience.

At the same time, the IOC has always sought to balance its traditions.

Therein lies the considerable tension.

A quick review of how the IOC got to Wednesday's action:

After every Games, the IOC reviews the line-up on the Games program.

By rule, the IOC sets these caps: 28 sports on the program and 10,500 athletes.

In 2009, the IOC decided to add rugby sevens and golf for the 2016 and 2020 Games.

For 2020, the review meant there would be 25 "core" sports plus golf and rugby. That meant -- and still means -- there would be one, and only one, open spot on the 2020 program.

In February, to considerable surprise, after its program commission -- chaired by Italy's Franco Carraro -- put every sport through a survey of 39 criteria, the executive board dropped wrestling from the core.

Wrestling's governing body, which goes by the acronym FILA, never saw it coming.

After all, wrestling had been on the ancient Games program. It had been on the program of every program in the modern Olympics.

In response, the federation got rid of its president, the Swiss Raphael Martinetti, and elected a new one, Serbian Nenad Lalovic. It enacted a series of rules changes aimed at making the sport more attractive.

"Wrestling needed to make the rules changes they did, and once they did, it gave the executive board an avenue to put wrestling on the short-list because it was a different wrestling than they saw in February," said Jim Scherr, the former U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive who is now a member of the FILA bureau.

Malaysia's seven-time squash world champion, Nicol David, said, "This is a great day for squash as it takes us one step closer to realizing our long-held ambition to join the Olympic Games. I said to the executive board that the one big regret in my career is that I have never had the chance to compete in the Olympic Games, but I would happily trade all my seven world titles for the chance of Olympic gold."

Baseball and softball formed a single international federation, the World Baseball Softball Confederation. They also laid out a plan to shorten their tournament and and play at one venue. Also, Major League Baseball and its players' association sent the IOC a letter confirming "our continuing support and confidence in finding the best possible … solution" for the "participation of professional players."

IOC sports director Christophe Dubi noted, "…They gave important assurance from the leagues that solutions will be found and this was presented today."

Both baseball and softball were kicked out of the Games in 2005, effective in 2008. Baseball had become part of the Olympics in 1992, softball in 1996. Don Porter, the longtime head of the softball effort, was visibly moved.

He said, "I have been through this a long, long time. I have been disappointed before. I just hoped we had done enough.

"This is like the seventh inning. Now we are heading to the ninth. We have runners on base and are going to work hard to bring those runners home."

Lalovic, the new wrestling president, used a different metaphor:

"The match is not finished," he said, adding a moment later, "We have to stay in the Olympics. This is our goal."

Bubka makes it an even six

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Sergei Bubka, the former Olympic and world champion in the pole vault who made himself into a leading figure in the business and politics of international sports, announced Tuesday he is running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee. Bubka becomes the sixth -- and presumably final -- candidate for the post, a record.

For all his success on the field of play and  since, whether in the innovative programs he has developed as president of the national Olympic committee of Ukraine or  in a variety of other fields, Bubka said at a news conference that he has been driven by an elemental principle: "I always dreamed to change the world for the better."

At 49, Bubka is -- by far -- the youngest candidate in the race. Asked about that, he said that while he now carries years of experience as an athlete, businessman and sports administrator, he also would bring "passion, energy, dynamism, motivation," adding such qualities are "important for such a responsibility." He also said, "If needed, I will work 24 hours a day for the success of the Olympic movement."

The fascinating challenge now confronting the winner -- whoever he is to be come Sept. 10, when the IOC votes at an all-member assembly in Buenos Aires -- is simple and obvious: how to build a winning coalition.

Also this: how to get through the critical first round of voting.

Bubka opted in amid the SportAccord convention, and just one day before the IOC's policy-making executive board convenes for meetings at which, among other issues, the future of sports such as wrestling on the 2020 Summer Games program is at stake. Why here? Because it was in St. Petersburg that Bubka first qualified for the 1983 track and field world championships, where he would go on to win gold -- in essence, where he announced his entrance onto the international stage. On Tuesday he sought to come full circle.

On Monday, Bubka said, he notified IOC president Jacques Rogge of his intention to declare.

In the very first paragraph of a letter sent Tuesday to the other 100 IOC members, Bubka moved immediately to the values that lie at the core of the movement, tracing them back to the founder of the modern Games, the French baron Pierre de Coubertin.

"Our challenge today is to maintain those historic values while adapting and growing as the modern world changes immeasurably," the letter says, noting that he intends to build on the work done by Rogge, who has served for the past 12 years, as well as Juan Antonio Samaranch, president for the 21 years before that.

Bubka joins a field that includes IOC vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ser Miang Ng of Singapore; finance commission chair Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico; boxing federation president C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei; and international rowing federation chief Denis Oswald.

Bach is generally seen as the front-runner.

It is also presumed, however, that Bach is by no means a lock to move into the president's office at the Chateau de Vidy, the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the letter he sent to the IOC members, Bubka says, "I am fully aware of the responsibility I have accepted and also of the difficult decision that each IOC member faces in deciding who is best able to lead the Olympic Movement in the coming years."

The letter cites his years as an athlete, businessman and sports administrator.

Bubka competed in four Olympic Games, 1988 to 2000. He won gold competing for the former Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Games.

He is a six-time world champion. He set 35 world records.

Bubka still holds both the outdoor (6.14 meters, or 20 feet, 1-3/4 inches) and indoor (6.15, or 20-2) pole-vault records.

"From a young age I wanted to become an Olympian and I was fortunate enough to achieve my dream," the letter says. "I was lucky, I had the right team around me, as coaches, as advisors, as friends. And this is my principle of life: even as an individual doing an individual sport, you can not succeed alone. Only together, we are strong. Only together we will be able to address the challenges that lie ahead of us."

It continues: "I believe that membership of the IOC brings with it obligations: to serve the world of sport; to preserve and evolve the great virtues on which Olympism stands; to listen and learn; and to react to the changing times to ensure that the Olympic values continue to reach and inspire a global population."

Bubka said he would present his action plan -- "manifesto," in IOC jargon -- in the coming weeks, promising a "clear vision and a number of ideas about how we might shape the future of the Olympic movement."

In the meantime, the letter says the movement must better connect with young people even as it finds "new ways" to combat doping and illegal betting.

It says, "We must spread the message of the Olympic movement and use its influence on a global political scale as a force for good."

Bubka served as the athletes' representative on the IOC executive board from 2000 to 2008; he was made a full IOC member in 2008 and elected anew to the executive board last year.

He has served on several commissions, including the coordination commissions for both the Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games. Since 2010, he has chaired what is called the Entourage Commission, a novel IOC panel that reviews the impact of an athlete's circle -- coaches, family, friends and others.

Since 2005, Bubka has been president of the national Olympic committee of Ukraine. The committee has developed, among other initiatives, a wide-ranging youth sports program that ties in kids, coaches and local communities. As Bubka said at the news conference, "We are building heroes in Ukraine."

Rogge has suggested that the next IOC president be paid; all the presidents in modern IOC history have served as volunteers. Bubka said it is a "big honor and pleasure" to serve the Olympic movement, and it is in that spirit that he volunteers now in his various roles. Even so, he said, he agrees with Rogge's proposal that the next president receive a salary, saying, "When [the president] is paid, he is responsible." Immediately, though, he also said that if elected, he would donate the salary -- however much it was -- to charity, explaining that family business interests and IOC expense allowances would cover the cost of living.

Bubka has been a vice president of track and field's worldwide governing body, IAAF, since 2007. He and Britain's Sebastian Coe are widely believed to be the leading contenders to succeed the IAAF president, Lamine Diack, whose term is due to end in 2015.

He said, "I am here because of athletics. Athletics, and the Olympic movement, this is in my heart -- this is my life, this is my life, my passion. And of course today, today we have the election for IOC presidency. And I think this is [a] good time to run for IOC president."

Wrestling? How about surfing?

The agenda is patently obvious Wednesday, when the International Olympic Committee's policy-making executive board meets in St. Petersburg, Russia, to determine the next steps for the sports program at the 2020 Summer Games. Does wrestling stand a chance to get back in? Or will it be irretrievably out for at least for four years? What about baseball and softball's combined bid -- does it deserve the one spot now open for 2020? Or will the other sports, such as squash, karate or climbing, be given an opportunity to make their case?

No matter the decision, the bigger picture has already been revealed. The IOC's process for figuring out what sports should be in the Games is fundamentally flawed and needs wholesale review.

The fix the IOC is in can be crystalized by assessing the outcome of the wrestling dilemma -- a crisis of the IOC's own making.

If wrestling, which the board voted out in February, gets a chance Wednesday to come back, and then -- in September at the all-members session in Buenos Aires -- actually gets voted back on, that's testament to an an appropriately aggressive response from FILA, the international wrestling federation, and power politics from, among others, Russia, where wrestling really matters, and President Vladimir Putin.

Russia is playing host to the Sochi 2014 Winter Games in just a few months. At Putin's direction, some $51 billion has already been spent -- that we know of -- getting ready for Sochi.

Putin is due in St. Petersburg to meet Thursday with Rogge, the day after the executive board vote.

If it's ultimately wrestling again on the program, and you can for sure make that argument in good faith, here's the problematic next question: what changes will the IOC's post-London Games review toward 2020 have actually effected?

Zero. Zip. Nada.

This raises a completely different set of issues and questions. Because, one might argue, it is counter-productive indeed for the IOC to do nothing, to seem stale, when it proclaims time and again that its mission is to reach out to the young people of the world.

To be blunt: the IOC's No. 1 priority in an ever-changing world is to remain relevant. There's a reason why sports such as jeu de paume, pelota basque and croquet, once features of the Summer Games program, aren't on it any longer. The program evolves with time and circumstance.

Yes, and understandably, wrestlers want to shine at the Games. But so do shortstops on baseball teams. And girls around the world who play softball.

And, for that matter, so do surfers, skateboarders, dancers, mixed martial artists and others.

The IOC has spent more than 10 years, essentially since the Mexico City session in 2002, trying to figure what to do about the Summer Games line-up. With this result: baseball and softball out, golf and rugby sevens in.

That is not considerable progress.

It is abundantly plain that more progress on this issue is not going to, or can not, take place until after the election of the new IOC president, at the Buenos Aires session, in September.

After that, though, this issue ought to be a key priority.

Mindful that the IOC -- at least for now -- caps participation in the Summer Games at 10,500 athletes and 28 sports, and also appreciating that a logjam like this is going to take both time, some direct conversation and some out-of-the-box thinking, here is a proposal to start the dialogue.

To begin, because of the 10,500 cap, somebody's got to go.

Say good-bye to soccer (504 athletes in London), shooting (390) and equestrian (200). This assumes wrestling is gone as well (344). Now you have cleared 1438 spaces.

Soccer for sure does not need the Games. Obviously, the men's component at the Olympics is not even the beautiful game's top priority since the best players don't play.

As for shooting -- people are going to shoot guns no matter what.

And for equestrian -- horse shows will survive without the Olympics, it's always a complication getting the horses to the Games and while the proponents of equestrian sport like to talk about how it fosters an amazing connection between man and beast that anyone can enjoy, doesn't it really cost a lot of money -- an awful lot of money -- to compete at an elite level?

Another way to approach the 10,500 cap is to ask why there is a 10,500 cap. And why the Games only run for 17 days. But that's a different philosophical issue entirely.

At any rate, once you make room for new sports, here are sports to consider, sports that young people actually like and that would not only make for hot tickets live but would crank up TV ratings, too:

Surfing

Is there anyone who doesn't think surfing is cool? Who in the world doesn't think Hawaiian surf god Laird Hamilton is, like, the coolest guy on Planet Earth? Wouldn't he be an invaluable asset to the movement? Dude, there is an entire culture devoted to this sport.

The head of the International Surfing Assn. recognizes that the only way surfing makes its way into the Games is not out in the ocean. It's through man-made wave-park technology.

Purists would assuredly argue that would be betraying some of surfing's soulfulness. Who, though, says the soul of surfing requires it to be a sport for only those who live by the shore? That technology would spread the sport far and wide, allowing millions -- if not billions -- more access to it.

If you think beach volleyball is now the hot ticket at the Games -- imagine the scene at Olympic surfing.

Fernando Aguerre, 55, a surfer (of course) and president of the ISA, is a visionary, not just an entrepreneur and environmental activist but someone who for years now has understood the power of the Olympic movement to effect change.

Born and raised in Argentina -- where he founded the original Argentinean Surfing Assn. despite a military dictatorship ban on the sport at the time -- he now lives near San Diego, Calif.

Reef, the sandal and sportswear maker? That was his company. This summer, the surf industry's trade group SIMA -- which is more likely to honor the likes of a competitor like Kelly Slater -- is poised to give Aguerre its top prize, the Waterman of the Year Award.

The federation, incidentally, now counts 72 member federations. It includes world championships in a variety of categories. Further, ISA has launched a number of initiatives, including scholarship programs for young surfers in countries like Peru.

Aguerre said, looking at the sports in the Games program, "I believe restrictions on participation should exist. However, I think that in the best interest of the Olympic movement, the results should be applied to all sports -- those that are in the Games and those that are not in the Games. It should be a level playing field."

He added a moment later, "It's like I say about creating a menu for a party. It doesn't matter what food you serve in your house. You look at the best food, and then you create the menu. Then people are going to be happy."

Skateboarding

The IOC has done solid work in bringing snowboarding to the Winter Games. U.S. icon Shaun White is now a two-time Winter Games gold medalist.

White is also a skateboarding stud.

And yet he can't compete in skateboarding at the Summer Games?

This makes no sense, especially when you see skateboarders doing awesome tricks at the X Games.

The explanation is both simple and yet super-complex -- it's sports politics.

Without getting too deep, the IOC demands national federations and an international federation. And everyone understands that skateboarding could mean big money.

The snowboarding analogy: snowboarders got in through the skiing federation. Now it's all good. But at the time, in the late 1990s, it was far from easy.

The challenge for skateboarding is figuring out how to get in -- separately, or under the wing of another federation. The cycling federation, for instance, has often been mentioned. But that has never seemed like the right fit.

So, as IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a recent interview in Around the Rings, this is the impasse.

It needs to be worked out.

Again, see those skateboarders at the X Games?

DanceSport

When: Dec. 11, 2000.

Where: the Palace Hotel, Lausanne, Switzerland.

What: a standard and Latin DanceSport demonstration.

Who was there: then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the entire IOC executive board, the IOC program commission and others, among them me. I walked out thinking, no way.

More than a dozen years later, and all I can say is, I was flat-out wrong, and I am here now to say it's time to admit it.

One: it's ridiculous to say the IOC doesn't allow dancing in the Games. Look at ice dancing in the Winter Olympics.

Two: they're real athletes. Ask Apolo Ohno, the eight-time U.S. short-track speed skating medalist, about how physically taxing it is to dance on "Dancing with the Stars." Or Shawn Johnson, the U.S. gymnast who won gold on the balance beam in Beijing in 2008 and who, like Ohno, is a "Stars" winner.

Three: have you seen the ratings for "Dancing with the Stars"? Or the British version, "Strictly Come Dancing," which started the entire thing? Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is not just a franchise but a worldwide phenomenon. And not just on TV. We're talking crazy on social media.

Tug of war

Is there a kid alive who has not played tug of war?

This is a sport that, with a little rock-and-roll music, some cheerleaders and a little sand, could become the next breakout hit -- again, the next beach volleyball.

What do you need to make tug of war happen? A rope. Where is there not a rope and some imagination?

A little-known fact is that tug of war was included in the Games from 1900 to 1912, and again in  1920. Time to bring it back!

As David Wallechinsky writes in his authoritative The Complete Book of the Olympics, a first-round pull resulted in one of the biggest controversies of the 1908 London Games: after the Liverpool Police pulled the U.S. team over the line in seconds, the Americans protesting that the Liverpudlians had used illegal boots spiked with steel cleats. The British maintained they were wearing standard police boots; the protest was disallowed and the Americans withdrew. After the tournament, the captain of the gold medal-winning London City Police challenged the Americans to a pull in their stockinged feet; there is no record of such a contest ever taking place, Wallechinsky writes.

Meanwhile, talk about universality. Imagine three-on-three teams from, say, American Samoa and Estonia. Why not?

Why not mixed teams? Men and women competing against each other? Maybe five-on-five?

All that would require some major rules changes, acknowledged Cathal McKeever, head of the sport's international federation, who said it is actively working to get back onto the program, perhaps by 2024.

"It's not like Michael Phelps," he said. "We don't have superstar individuals."

Not yet.

Mixed martial arts

Eight years ago, when I was still a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, I wrote a front-page story  about an up-and-coming sport, mixed martial arts, that U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Republican stalwart from Arizona, had once decried as "human cockfighting."

Since then, the UFC has gone on to become an enormous success story.

Mixed martial arts is already huge, it's still growing, young people can't get enough of it, and the time has come for the IOC to start coming to terms with it -- indeed, to get on board, because if you go to an MMA gym, the values that are preached there are thoroughly in line with the Olympic values: respect, excellence, friendship.

One of the primary ethos of an MMA fight is that it's OK to tap-out to live to fight again -- this shows respect not just for your opponent but for the sport itself.

Every excuse the IOC could come up with is just that -- an excuse.

For instance, there are those who don't like the fact that MMA is a "submission sport." But so is judo.

To be clear, this is a long-term proposition. The IOC and the international federation -- yes, there already is one, and it is not based in the United States -- would have to figure out how the basics of how to run a tournament. Could the athletes, for instance, reasonably be expected to fight three or four times over 16 days?

Here's the thing, though: where there's a will, there's a way. And when the IOC wants to get things done, it always does.

Oh, and to take this back to the beginning of this column, and wrestling, because wrestling has been around since the beginning of the modern Olympics in 1896 -- you know what was a major feature of the ancient Games, in Olympia itself? A discipline called pankration.

Today we would call that "mixed martial arts."

Oswald makes it five

Denis Oswald of Switzerland made it five Friday and three in one week, announcing that he, too, is now a candidate for the International Olympic Committee presidency. Oswald, experienced in virtually all facets of the movement -- as an athlete, IOC member and administrator -- sent a one-page letter to his fellow members that both declared his intent to run and outlined his extensive qualifications:

"My 40 years of service to the Olympic movement have provided me with a comprehensive understanding of our organization as well as its role and significance in the wider world.

"This knowledge and experience ... will enable me to advance the Olympic cause and enhance the IOC's authority as the leader of world sport.''

Oswald, 66, joins a list that includes C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei (who announced Thursday), Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico (Wednesday) and Ser Miang Ng of Singapore and Thomas Bach of Germany (both earlier).

Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is also expected to jump in, perhaps as soon as next week.

The IOC will select the successor to Jacques Rogge Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires.

Rogge has been president since 2001. He took over from Juan Antonio Samaranch, who served for the 21 years before that.

That 2001 presidential election saw five candidates.

An intriguing back story to Oswald's announcement Friday is that some had been suggesting to him -- and quite directly -- that he consider options at the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Instead, he said in the letter, "In the coming weeks, I will have the opportunity to present to you my vision and philosophy which will inspire my actions on your behalf and that of the IOC."

He scheduled a news conference for June 3 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the IOC has its headquarters, to outline his plans. Oswald is based in nearby Colombier, near Neuchâtel.

If all IOC elections are based in large measure on relationships, it's also an inescapable fact that they are also math problems.

Oswald's entry into the race now means there are two western European candidates -- he and Bach. What Oswald's campaign means for Bach, the first to declare his candidacy and widely presumed to be the front-runner, is immediately unclear.

Oswald has, as he said in Friday's letter, been immersed in the movement at every level.

He competed in rowing at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Games, winning a bronze medal in Mexico City in 1968.

A lawyer for many major companies since the mid-1970s, he has been president of the rowing federation, which goes by the acronym FISA, since 1989 -- his term there ends later this year -- and an IOC member since 1991.

He served as president of the Assn. of Summer Olympic International Federations from 2000-12; that gave him a spot during those years on the IOC's policy-making executive board.

Since 1984, he has been an arbitrator at sport's top court, the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport; since 1994, he has been a CAS mediator.

Oswald served as chair of the IOC's coordination committees for both the 2004 Athens Games (despite any number of challenges) and the 2012 London Olympics (now a benchmark for future Games).

Wu's IOC vision: education

C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei, the president of the international boxing association and a member of the International Olympic Committee's policy-making executive board, on Thursday announced he is running for the IOC presidency. Stressing that the Olympic movement ought to reach deep into communities worldwide to emphasize not just sport but culture and, especially, the education of young people, Wu said, "This is the way to look to the future."

He added, "The Olympic values should start early. When you are young, we all have family education. We learn a lot through the family. When I look at the problems facing us -- doping, match-fixing -- and beyond, all the issues that we care about, issues that are part of our responsibilities, you ask, how to tackle these?

"I am emphasizing the education."

Wu, 66, made his announcement at a news conference in Taipei, becoming the fourth candidate in the race, joining Richard Carrión of Puerto Rico -- who issued a statement on Wednesday -- as well as Ser Miang Ng of Singapore and Thomas Bach of Germany.

Sergei Bubka of Ukraine is also widely expected to join. Switzerland's Denis Oswald has been dropping hints, too, about getting in.

The IOC will elect its new president on Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires.

Jacques Rogge of Belgium has served since 2001. He replaced Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, who served for the 21 years before that.

Wu, a hugely successful architect who played a key role in developing the Milton Keynes project in Britain, has been an IOC member since 1988.

He served on the Beijing 2008 Games coordination commission and is on the same panel for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games. He also was a member of the 1998 Nagano Winter Games coordination commission.

He served on what was called the Cultural Commission from 1992-99 and since 2000 has been on what is now called the Culture and Olympic Education Commission.

For the past 11 years, he has been a member of the Philately, Numismatic and Memorabilia Commission -- that is, stamps, coins and other collectibles.

He and Samaranch shared an avid interest in collecting. Indeed, Samaranch bequeathed Wu his collection and, last month, the Samaranch Memorial Museum opened in Tianjin, China -- designed and financed in part by Wu.

Some may assess this 2013 presidential race and be tempted to underestimate Wu.

Wu, though, has a profound civility about him. And important allies. And a knack for beating the odds.

That museum, for instance? The first time the Chinese government allowed such a memorial to a foreign figure. In Wu, moreover, the project was overseen by a non-national. All that, and it got done -- and then some two dozen IOC members showed up at the dedication.

Wu has been president of AIBA since 2006. There were those who thought the controversial former president, Anwar Chowdhry, might never leave; Wu managed to oust him that year in an election. The next year, an AIBA ethics report outlined a series of financial irregularities during Chowdhry's 20-year reign.

Under Wu, AIBA has continued to undergo a series of reforms.

Last year, Wu ran for the IOC's executive board. Some thought, no way. He won.

In an interview, Wu said his idea for the presidency rests on those three core elements of sport, culture and education but emphasized that the president's ability to "transform and realize" Olympic ideals into practice is, and always will be, key.

Under the principle "beyond Olympism, together," he said, the IOC could "significantly enhance" its "contribution to humanity."

Through any and all tools, he reiterated his commitment to education worldwide with an emphasis on the Olympic values -- and even perhaps, he suggested, Olympic museums in host countries with programs supported by the IOC.

He said the IOC members should actively position themselves as part of "an organization that leads the effort in making our world a better place not only for our athletes and the Olympic family, but also for our neighbors and society at large.

“I strongly urge that we concentrate more on education than ever before. I truly believe that there is no better solution to fighting against these problems than providing young people with education early on. This is one of the best ways to bring the IOC well beyond what it has achieved ..."

In other areas, Wu suggested that all Olympic sports should be "protected" -- an intriguing note given the controversy over wrestling's bid to get back onto the program for the 2020 Summer Games. As for new sports, he suggested, the IOC might want to re-visit the idea of demonstration sports.

Wu proposed that the IOC revisit the age-70 limit set as part of the reforms enacted as a response to the late 1990s Salt Lake City scandal.

IOC membership is now set at 115. Wu suggested 130 on the grounds that it would bring in more national Olympic committee and international federation presidents.

For those who wish to underestimate him, Wu said with a gentle laugh, "Gradually, they will understand. I will talk with the colleagues. Last year's [executive board] election -- I got a very high vote. The members -- they recognize what I have done. At AIBA, the work I have done once seemed impossible and now people say, you have done it.

"The museum -- this is the culture side. We need a president with a cultural background. The body and the mind -- we need that, and education. The new president can emphasize the importance of this."

He also said, looking ahead to the campaign, "Competition is only for three or four months. Friendship is for forever."

Carrión lights his flame

It was a couple days before the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. The British Columbia weather was, as usual for that time of year, unpleasant -- rain and sleet. All the more charming, it was hardly 7:30 in the morning. And yet -- people were lined up three-deep to watch the Olympic flame go by. Those who had  prime viewing locations made way so that some in wheelchairs could get a look. People who had babies held them up high and said, out loud, to the little ones, "There it is."

Taking all this in that morning was the man who, for a couple minutes, ran with the flame, then handed it off on its next leg toward the cauldron and the opening ceremony -- Richard Carrión, the International Olympic Committee member from Puerto Rico.

On Wednesday, Carrión announced he is a candidate for the IOC presidency. Much will inevitably be made in the weeks and months to come about how Carrión is a banker, a businessman who has negotiated the IOC's major television rights deals, indeed arguably the IOC's key financier -- all of that -- and how he would bring best-practices sensibilities to the office.

That, though, is not why he is running.

Thinking back to that morning now more than three years ago, Carrión said, "The people were there to watch the torch -- not the guy.

"That flame evokes an emotion. That is the most powerful thing we have going for us. The minute we think this a business or a professional meeting, we are lost.

"This is fundamentally an organization built around universal values that tries to bring out the best of us in every way. That is what makes me feel privileged to give the organization the time I have given it the past 23 years. I feel it is a privilege -- not something I should be compensated for. That is what stirs the passion in me."

Carrión, 60, is third to announce his candidacy, joining Germany's Thomas Bach and Singapore's Ser Miang Ng.

C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei, Sergei Bubka of Ukraine and Denis Oswald of Switzerland are other likely or potential candidates. The IOC will vote Sept. 10 in Buenos Aires. The winner will replace Jacques Rogge, who has served for 12 years.

Carrión, as he noted, has been an IOC member since 1990. He served as a member of the policy-making executive board from 2004 until last year. He has been chair of the IOC finance commission since 2002.

Though the global economic downturn has rocked governments and businesses worldwide, the IOC has over the past 10 years increased its reserves from $100 to some $900 million, guaranteeing funds sufficient to withstand an entire four-year cycle without Games.

How? Finance stuff -- opening up the bidding process itself for the sale of broadcast rights, holding more country-by-country TV bidding and readjusting the pay-out to Games' organizing committees to an inflation-based formula.

Over the course of the campaign, the two challenges Carrión is most likely to hear most often -- which he straight-up acknowledges -- are, first, his demeanor, and two, the fact that unlike some of the others, he was not an Olympian, professional athlete or even sport functionary before a business career.

To take the second one first, perhaps only within the IOC would that even remotely grasp at logic. Carrión has been chief executive (since 1989) and then chairman (since 1993) of Popular, Inc., the financial institution that now claims $37 billion in assets.

Meanwhile, an easy check of the website for FIBA, the international basketball association, would show Carrión's name there as a central board member. It's hardly as if he doesn't know or understand sport -- he serves now on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro coordination commission and pulled similar duty on the 1996 Atlanta commission.

As for his personality -- Carrión can command a room but does not easily glad-hand it. This can sometimes create the wrong impression. At first, he can seem shy. Beneath the reserve, it turns out, he is not just sensible and level but, indeed, gracious and personable.

As for campaigning, he said, "I just have to do it. i just have to go out and sit down and say, 'This is what I think, you are important to me and your ideas are important to me. I am a listener. You can talk to me all day long. That doesn't mean I will do what you say -- but it will weigh in my mind.

"I am not subject to any kind of pressures. I have resisted pressures. I have dealt with large companies and large organizations all my life. I have a global perspective. I am independent, in the sense that I am not subject to any kind of pressure."

The IOC, Carrión made plain, finds itself now in good standing. At the same time, this election sees much at stake.

Why? Economic strains threaten sports across countries of all sizes. The Olympic Games themselves have become increasingly complex to stage. Doping and illegal betting represent significant threats. And, as a social trend, there is the growing rate of inactivity and obesity among young people in certain countries.

A key point: it's not just the Olympic movement of 2013 that's at issue. It's what the movement will look like in 2021 or, given the way things really work, with the next president on deck to serve not just the standard first eight-year term but a full 12 years, 2025. Moreover, it's not just about the Games -- it's about the movement and its reach to the big cities and little villages of the world alike.

Carrión outlined some broad themes and, at the same time, some potential action steps. The IOC, he said, should:

-- Use a "multi-partner approach" to better achieve what it calls "universality," or worldwide inclusion. A foundation of the Olympic movement is that sport is a human right. But governments -- which largely fund sport -- are facing tough choices. Carrión's notion? The IOC's United Nation observer status and added partnerships with non-governmental organizations can help. "We have a treasure trove of knowledge of what is working," he said, "so that at the community level we can put plans in place."

-- Create a special new fund for grass-roots sports education and development, one that complements the existing Olympic Solidarity program, which aims more at elite sport. Last month, in Lima, Peru, the IOC held a conference on "Sport for All." This was the IOC's 15th such conference; it went on for four days; 500 leading experts from almost 90 nations attended. Now, as a point of contrast: the IOC's "Sport for All" budget for the 2009-2012 cycle -- $2.2 million. If that sounds like a decent sum, consider that there are 204 national Olympic committees. Consider, too, that Solidarity's budget for the same period was $311 million. Which means that Sport for All's budget for the same period was 0.7074 percent of Solidarity's.

-- Lessen the burden of hosting the Games or run the risk -- as is already perhaps being seen -- in limiting future bids to a handful of countries. One way: bring in-house some Olympic Games functions. This sort of non-sexy, but essential, idea actually could save big dollars. The IOC already knows this, because it has the model in place: Olympic Broadcasting Services. OBS has shown that with the same teams in place you can gain greater efficiencies, higher quality and greater productivity.

-- Take a broad look at the reforms enacted in the wake of the late 1990s Salt Lake City crisis. Carrión served on the commission that pushed for the reforms, which include an age-70 age limit. Now, he says, "The important thing is we need to review these things. Twelve years later, we can better gauge the effect of some of these things," noting the members' skills and diversity are not being tapped to their fullest.

-- Urge for the inclusion of women at management and executive positions throughout the IOC and the movement. "We do," he said, "need to show some leadership and increase that."

Others will of course have held a news conference to mark their presidential candidacies. Not Carrión, who is sending a letter and his "manifesto," or to-do plan, to the members. For him -- that's enough.

"It is part of my style," he said. "It drives most of the things that I do -- let's be as efficient as possible."

Ng's moment: symbolism, vision

In a moment rich with symbolism, Singapore's Ser Miang Ng announced Thursday he is a candidate to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee. Ng, 64, made the announcement in Paris, at the Sorbonne, the university where in 1894 Pierre de Coubertin and his invitees met in the Salle Octave Gréard to revive the Olympic Games. There began the audacious idea of making this modern Olympic committee something that might someday be truly, indeed profoundly, international.

Now the movement includes more national Olympic committees, 204, than the United Nations has member states, 193.

The "values of sport," Ng said Thursday, "are tomorrow's living Olympic legacies." At the same time, he said, "The world is changing -- and the movement must evolve with it."

Ng's candidacy makes two now in the presidential race. He joins Germany's Thomas Bach, who jumped in last Thursday.

Others expected to make announcements in the coming days include Ukraine's Sergei Bubka, Puerto Rico's Richard Carrión and C.K. Wu of Chinese Taipei.

The deadline for declaring is June 10. The vote is due to be held Sept. 10 at the IOC's all-members assembly in Buenos Aires. The new president will replace Jacques Rogge, who has led the IOC since 2001; Rogge replaced Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, who served for the 21 years before that.

With one exception, American Avery Brundage, who served from 1952 to 1972, all the IOC presidents have been European.

Even now, the IOC remains traditionally Eurocentric -- 43 of the current 101 members are European -- and Bach is widely presumed to be the front-runner in the campaign.

That said, Ng has for months been traveling the world, quietly sounding out the membership.

Ng's resume, briefly: Successful businessman and diplomat. Former vice president of the international sailing federation. Chair of the organizing committee of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, in Singapore in 2010. Member of the London 2012 and Beijing 2008 coordination commissions. IOC member since 1998 and its current first vice president.

Ng set the stage for Thursday's announcement by meeting Monday with Rogge at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. To then seize the moment by invoking de Coubertin and what Ng called this "historic, sacred place where I am inspired by our past and encouraged for our future" -- it ought to be plain that Ng is savvy, indeed, and can be expected to be a formidable candidate.

Ng said in an interview, "The IOC is strong and on sound footing thanks to the leadership of President Rogge. But definitely we live in fast-changing times, with economic challenges around the world. A lot more can be done; there is a lot more we can do. It will take discussions with members to reach a shared vision; we can go from there. Definitely we are on a shared foundation, a shared footing."

The vision thing is one of three notes that came through loud and clear from the Sorbonne:

One, Ng's emphasis on Olympic values. Young people need to be "at the center of the movement," he said, and the IOC members themselves, "blessed with a wealth of experience and knowledge," must be empowered to work with other stakeholders to "share our strengths."

He talked, too, about "silent heroes" such as Games volunteers and organizing committee staff -- with "inspiring Olympic stories to share," and said the IOC should "help them do so."

Two, while some press accounts will inevitably try to portray him as an "Asian candidate," as if that was some sort of one-dimensional thing,  he said, "I am proud to be Asian but I am also a global citizen."

Ng is Singapore's ambassador to Norway, its former ambassador to Hungary and chaired IOC commissions that chose African and South American cities to host IOC assemblies.

He added, "I understand that the strength of the movement lies within its diverse interests and perspectives -- all of which are valuable -- now more than ever."

Three, Ng for sure can rattle off details of what he would want to do, and in the "manifesto" -- Olympic jargon for to-do plan -- he is already sending to the members there absolutely are details. Some would seem obvious, and he talked about them Thursday: review the size and cost of the Games as well as the sports on the Olympic program.

That Ng's manifesto is already in the mail stands as an immediate, and intriguing, point of campaign contrast with Bach. Bach said he plans to wait until next month to make his platform available to the members.

At the same time, Ng played Thursday to the big picture -- to "goals not yet realized ... summits not yet reached ... and vistas not yet seen."

He said, "The Olympic movement faces an increasingly interconnected world.

"This will require a leader with an inclusive leadership style and worldview based on collective input and decision-making.

"And, this will require a leader who can empower the Olympic movement behind a unifying vision."

In an interview, he elaborated: "I believe this competition is not about me. It's about vision and style of leadership. I believe we need inclusion and a universal leader who is able to take into account all the different views and to empower members to be involved. The movement is bigger than one. The movement is bigger than one's self."

Back to his remarks at the Sorbonne. He closed by saying: "At every Olympic Games, the world comes together in a celebration of what it means to be human, what it means to strive and what it means to share in each other's dreams.

"…The future of the Olympic movement is written in the dreams of young people around the world. It is my most sincere desire to help all young people, everywhere, make those dreams come true. Thank you. Merci beaucoup."

Straight talk about Qatar

They held a track meet Friday on a typically warm and balmy evening in Doha, the opening Diamond League event of the 2013 season. It was sensational. American long jumper Brittney Reese, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, sailed out to a personal best, 7.25 meters, or 23 feet, 9 1/2 inches. It was the best jump by an American in 15 years.

Another London gold medalist, David Rudisha of Kenya, won again, in 1:43.87, considerably slower than his world-record 1:40.91 at the Games. That was to be expected for an early-season outing. Even so, he beat Mohammed Aman of Ethiopa -- who had beaten him last year in Zurich -- by more than half a second.

In the women's 400, Amantle Montsho of Botswana defeated Allyson Felix in a rematch of their thrilling encounter at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea; Felix hadn't lost in Doha in 10 races but, then again, hadn't run the 400 in a meet since Daegu. Montsho crossed Friday night in 49.88, Felix in 50.19. Britain's Christine Ohuruogu, the London silver medalist, took third, in 50.53.

In all, there were 11 world-leading performances. More than two dozen Olympians made the meet.

The focus Friday in Doha was on track and field. Nothing else. It just goes to show -- again -- that when given a chance, the Qataris know how to put on a big-time sports event where the athletes are front and center.

It's a mystery why so much of the world -- still -- views what is going on in Doha with such suspicion.

It's as if having money is a bad thing.

Like, why?

That is stupid thinking and ought to stop.

This is not naiveté.

If there is evidence of misconduct or wrongdoing, then it should be produced, and examined for everyone to see.

If there is not, then what is at issue is stereotyping, or worse -- and that really needs to stop. Because, as Fahad Ebrahim Juma, the director of planning and development for the Qatar Olympic Committee said in a recent interview in Doha, "Believe it or not, the Middle East is part of this earth."

One day, there are going to be Olympic Games in the Middle East.

Maybe they will be in Istanbul in 2020. The International Olympic Committee is going to vote this September on the 2020 site; Istanbul is in the mix, along with Tokyo and Madrid.

If Istanbul doesn't make it, Doha -- which bid for 2016 and 2020 but was cut -- will surely bid for 2024. Maybe even if Istanbul does make it. Who knows?

Of course, Qatar will stage soccer's World Cup in 2022.

Again, if there is documentable evidence of misconduct or wrongdoing in the Qatari World Cup bid, bring it on.

Until then, here is some of the evidence of what is actually going on in Qatar:

The country is being developed, and rapidly, according to a "National Vision 2030" plan that includes sport as one of its key pillars.

Part of the strategy involves international outreach. In 1993, Qatar staged two international sports events. In 2002, 10. This year, 40. The 2020 objective, 50.

Next year, it will stage the world swimming short-course championships; in 2015, the world handball championships; in 2016, the road cycling championships.

The Qataris announced Friday they intend to bid for the 2019 world track and field championships; they tried for 2017 but lost to London.

Another element of the 2030 plan is an internal focus. An Olympic program in the country's schools drew 5,000 students in 2008 -- 1,500 girls and 3,500 boys. This year, roughly 21,900 students -- 7,555 girls, 14,345 boys.

At the London Games, Qatar sent women to the Games for the first time -- four. But it's not as if there aren't Qatari female athletes. More than 200 Qatari women competed at the 2006 Asian Games. The Qataris are, for the most part, trying to get their female athletes to the Games by qualifying them the way every other nation does, not just by accepting wild-card invitations in swimming and track.

The nation's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony in London: female shooter Bahiya al-Hamad.

Yes, you can see women in veils in Doha. But, this spring at the QMA Gallery at Katara, near the upscale West Bay development, you could also have taken in the "Hey Ya!" photo and video exhibit -- shots of Arabic women in swimsuits; gymnastics leotards; sports bras, shorts and track spikes; whatever.

You could also have taken in a production across town of the Greek tragedy, "Medea," put on by Northwestern University in Qatar. Northwestern is one of several leading institutions with branch campuses in Qatar -- others include Texas A&M, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth, Georgetown's foreign service school and Cornell's medical school.

You could have gone shopping at the Villagio mall. It has an ice rink in it. And a food court. And every shop-'til-you-drop outlet you can imagine. It's right next to the Aspire complex, with a 50,000-seat stadium and a sports-specific hospital. They put on the 2010 world indoor track and field championships at Aspire.

Or -- and this is where the Qataris got their latest round of bad press -- you could have taken in the "Olympics: Past and Present" Exhibit in a temporary hall close to the Museum of Islamic Art. The show will run there until June 30; it's due eventually to be housed in a Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum.

The exhibit, which opened in March, is split into two parts, one highlighting ancient Olympia, the other the modern Games. On display are some 1,200 items, including over 600 from Greece and international museums.

There's a mini-Olympic stadium. There are Olympic posters and mascots. There is every Olympic torch -- including the super hard-to-find Helsinki 1952 torch.

The display, put together by Dr. Christian Wacker, a German historian, is genuine. It is engaging. Most important, it doesn't skirt the truth -- it confronts the honest realities that, for instance, the Games have had boycotts and been shadowed by doping problems.

All that, and the one thing that the European press bothered to write about -- which then made the English-language wire services -- is some nude statues?

A compromise -- a fabric six feet in front of the statues -- didn't suit the Greek Culture Ministry. So the antiquities were a no-go, and reportedly shipped back to Athens, where it somehow became a story.

Why? Because cultural sensitivities in Doha are, on some level, different than in Athens? Who got together and decided that cultural standards in Athens make the world go around?

The controversy is all the more incredible given that this exhibit is -- again -- literally in the shadow of one of the world's finest exhibits of Islamic art.

Beyond which -- there is nudity in the exhibit, including a lovely small bronze.

Four Olympic champions, meanwhile, were among those touring the show on Wednesday: Felix, Reese, American triple-jumper Christian Taylor and Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

It was normal.

Then they, and a bunch of other top athletes, went out Friday night and ran. Normal.

"I love racing in Doha," said Kellie Wells, the London bronze medalist in the women's 100 hurdles, who finished second Friday, behind London silver medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson.

Harper-Nelson ran a world-leading 12.6; Wells ran a season-best 12.73. "It's always great to run here," Wells said. "Every single time."