By GRAHAM DUNBAR, Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The names of experts appointed to an Olympic panel looking at female gender issues ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are not being revealed, the IOC said on Friday.
A working group on “Protection of the Female Category” in sports was promised by the International Olympic Committee’s first female president Kirsty Coventry when she was elected in March.
A key campaign theme was the IOC taking more strategy-setting responsibility in fallout from the furor around women’s boxing at the Paris Summer Games that was widely used then and since as a culture war issue, including by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The governing bodies of boxing and track and field now require female athletes to take sex tests, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee in July effectively banned transgender women from Olympic sports to comply with an executive order by the Trump administration.
“The names of the members of the working group will remain confidential for now to protect the integrity of the group and their work,” the IOC said in a statement.
The female protection panel was announced on Friday among four expert groups — the others are reviewing Olympic sports programs and calendars, commercial issues, and the Youth Olympics — but the only one in which the list of members was kept secret.
No timetable was given for the panels’ work which is intended to start “as soon as possible,” the IOC body said, under the project banner “Fit for the future.”
Olympic program and dates
The panel for Olympic sports will look at the global calendar at a time of changing climate and a widespread expectation the 2036 Summer Games will move from the traditional July-August slot.
Candidates to host then include India and Qatar, though the panel’s stated remit on Friday did not include details of who, how and when to evaluate the 2036 bids. Many IOC members are known to want more input in a process that was opaque before Brisbane was selected as the 2032 host.
“It will also consider the suggestion that traditional summer or winter sports could cross over, the timing of the Games, and the sports calendar,” the IOC said.
The panel includes two members who successfully organized Olympics: Sebastian Coe in London in 2012 and Tony Estanguet in Paris last year.
The group could be tasked to look at more efficiently adding or removing sports and events from the Olympic programs.
Sponsor value
The working group on commercial and marketing issues, including IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch, will review how the Olympic Games “engages with partners, and how it can evolve and ensure that it is fit for today’s competitive market.”
Olympic venues are currently almost entirely clean of the names of IOC sponsors, who include equipment providers, though product placement was a growing trend in Paris.
The IOC also suggested it wants to generate more revenue from its Olympic Channel and in-house broadcasting production operation in Madrid.
The Youth Olympics panel has been asked to “look at the potential and relevance” of the event, and shape the process of picking a host for 2030, the IOC said.
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