FINA is requesting 8 new events for the 2012 Olymics!

FINA is requesting 8 new events for 2012. Two which would include adding an 800m free for men and then a 1500m free for woman. However, the Times Online accuses an "American led lobby" of wanting to screw that up and drop the 800m free altogether and just add a 1500m free for the women.

Personally, I think they should let NBC decide and I am sure they would want as much swimming as they could film. Heck, they are paying for it.

The Times Online article is not very fleshed out but this would certainly effect Rebecca Adlington who is quoted in the article.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering a request by FINA, swimming’s governing body, to add eight new events in time for 2012. They include a 1500m freestyle race for women and an 800m race for men.

Sources say the IOC, which is keen to limit expansion, is unlikely to grant such a request and could instead opt for a compromise favoured by the American-led equality lobby that would see Adlington’s strongest event dropped and allow women to step up to 1500m for the first time. The IOC’s executive board will decide on the matter later this year.

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The IOC is considering a "Youth Olympic Games"

The executive board of the International Olympic Committee agreed in principle to consider ratifying a new Youth Olympic Games so as to impress on the younger generation how important sports are to character, discipline and values. I am surprised that obesity, diabetes, video games, collapsing sports revenue in such sports as tennis and ice skating were not mentioned.

• The Format The Summer and Winter Youth Games would alternate every four years, the Summer events would be staged in the years of the Olympic Winter Games and vice versa. The first edition of Summer YOG is envisaged for 2010. Estimates around participant numbers range from 3,000 for the Summer YOG and 1,000 for the winter counterpart. The organisational effort for a city to host the YOG would be significantly lower for the Olympic Games. However the details of the concept still need to be defined in close cooperation with the members of the Olympic Movement. Experience can be gathered from events like the European and Australian Youth Olympic Festivals.