Sat, Dec 12, 2009 page20

• Olympic chiefs approve major changes

  PARITY PLAN Tennis mixed doubles and cycling events were added to the London 2012 Olympics schedule, while the individual cycling pursuit races will be dropped

  • AP
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  Olympic leaders approved major changes on Thursday in track cycling — including elimination of the sport’s signature endurance race — and the addition of mixed doubles in tennis for the 2012 London Games.

  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board agreed to a program of five men’s and five women’s track cycling events as part of a gender-parity plan proposed by cycling world governing body UCI.

  As a result, the Olympics will lose track cycling’s iconic event — the 4,000m individual pursuit for men and 3,000m pursuit for women.

  Dozens of current and former cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, have spoken out against dropping the individual pursuit. Among those affected are reigning 19-year-old world champion Taylor Phinney of the US and two-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins of Britain.

  IOC president Jacques Rogge said the committee was just following the recommendations of the UCI.

  “It is the advice of the UCI that the new format would be more appealing,” Rogge said at a news conference. “Of course, the concerned riders regret that. This is perfectly understandable but the executive board of UCI considered the new format would be far more appealing.”

  “There is a general shift as you know from endurance events more to sprint events,” he said. “That is a consideration being made by the experts of cycling, not the IOC.”

  Also eliminated in the changes are the men’s and women’s points races, and men’s madison.

  The new Olympic program includes men’s and women’s competition in individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the five-race omnium event. The omnium combines performances in a 3km individual pursuit, 200m sprint, 1km time trial, 15km points race and 5km scratch race.

  Cycling had seven track events for men and three for women at last year’s Beijing Games.

  Thursday’s changes were designed to make sure male and females compete in an equal number of events in London.

  Phinney posted a message on his Twitter feed saying “we have been unsuccessful in our fight ... We now move on.”

  Wiggins, who won the men’s pursuit in Athens in 2004 and Beijing last year, will miss the chance to go for a third gold in the event in his home city.

  “It’s disappointing, but it’s not something I can control or have an effect on,” he said. “It would have been nice to have been back there and going for No. 3 in the individual. It’s a bit drastic losing three endurance events and replacing it with something like the omnium which, in my opinion, is a poor event to watch. But it doesn’t matter what we think. We’re just the riders.”

  The change will bring the number of women track cyclists in London to 84, up from 35 in Beijing last year. Women will make up 45 percent of the total number of Olympic track cyclists, compared to 19 percent in Beijing.

  On the final day of a two-day meeting, the IOC board also ratified a proposal by the International Tennis Federation for inclusion of a 16-team mixed doubles competition in London, where the tournament will be played on grass at Wimbledon.

  In August, the IOC said it wanted guarantees that top players in singles would be able to participate in mixed doubles. Outside of the Olympics, the top singles players rarely play doubles or mixed doubles.

  The IOC said on Thursday that mixed doubles “will bring an added value to the Olympic program by providing another opportunity for men and women to compete together on the same field of play.”

  Mixed doubles were played at several Olympics from 1900 to 1924. The last gold medalists were Americans Richard Williams and Hazel Wightman in Paris in 1924.

  Tennis was dropped from the Olympics after 1924 but returned as a medal event in 1988 without mixed doubles.

  Thursday’s IOC decision was welcomed by ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti.

  “We believe that this addition will make Olympic tennis a truly unique event, with top players having the opportunity to compete for their countries and the honor of an Olympic Medal in three distinct disciplines: singles, doubles and mixed doubles,” he said.
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