Riccardo Schiroli in Quebec City
Ed Hula, the editor of the “Around the Rings” magazine moderated the Newsmaker breakfast in the press briefing room of the SportAccord Convention in Quebec City (Canada).
Hula asked questions to 3 of the most regarded reporters amongst those who have covered the Olympic Games lately: Hiroki Shoda (Kyodo News), Sven Bush (Deutsche Press Agentur-DPA) and Stephen Wilson (Associated Press-AP).
In the final part of the round table, all participants agreed on the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is definitely ready to make changes to the program of the Summer Games.
“The shortlisted sports make an interesting mix of tradition and relatively new sports” said Hula, who expressed the feeling that the IOC may look for a sport that is appealing for the younger people.
Shoda made no mystery that Japan is expecting baseball to be on the program, expecially if the games are played in Tokyo.
Wilson said that he will have a more definite opinion on the chances of baseball after it is made clear if baseball is making a joint bid with softball or is running alone.
It will be in the next 17 months that the IOC will collect information to pick the host city of the 2020 Olympics. The bidding cities won’t be allowed to campaign internationally until the beginning of 2013.
