Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The world football federation (Fifa) is not ready to set dates for the controversial 2022 Qatar World Cup, but its president, Sepp Blatter, told journalists at the IOC (Internationasl Olympic Committee) in Lausanne 25 January that the Cup could be held at the start or end of the year.
Fifa has come under fire for saying the World Cup could be held in winter to avoid the summer heat of Qatar, since it will be held in a year when the Olympic Winter Games will be on. These run at the start of the year, normally beginning at the end of January. The 2022 Games will not be awarded until 2015.
Blatter was in Lausanne for a visit to the IOC by UN head Ban Ki-moon.
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss hockey team ended their Olympic adventure with another narrow defeat to the USA. They were one goal down going into the final few minutes but then conceded a second after taking off their goaltender while searching for an equalizer. The US team now enter the semi-finals.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Vancouver 2010
Rapidly changing winter weather, Swiss Alps
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “And now the mountain weather forecast for the next two minutes!” Such extremely short-term weather forecasting might be a thing of the future, but scientists are gathering and studying data in Vancouver, Canada to help them reach that point. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Canada are hosting one group of experts whose specialty is not a sport, but very short term weather forecasts, called “nowcasting”, which make predictions up to six hours before an event.
A team of scientists from nine countries assembled by the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization and Environment Canada is conducting a weather research and development project called the Science and Nowcasting of Olympic Weather for Vancouver 2010, aka Snow-V10.
Nowcasting has already been used for Olympic Games, but in summer, at the Sydney 2000 Games and the Beijing 2008 Games. The prediction of winter weather in mountains is more difficult because conditions change rapidly with time and altitude.
British sledders (photo: Vanoc 2010)
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) – British bobsledders John Jackson and Dan Money walked away, battered and bruised but otherwise all right, after their two-man bobsleigh flipped on the world’s fastest track during their first heat. Money was thrown out and Jackson was trapped inside until the bob stopped. They then hugged each other in relief. The British team is out of the race. Money later told reporters that crashes are normal. “It’s bobsleigh, not ballet.”
A Canadian team also crashed on the run.
Swiss driver Daniel Schmid withdrew from the two- and four-man bobsleigh races earlier in the week for “safety reasons” after his driver Juerg Egger crashed and was flown from Whistler to a Vancouver hospital. Schmid had replaced Swiss hopeful Beat Hefti who pulled out after crashing and suffering a concussion.
Bobsleigh is Switzerland’s strongest Olympic sport after Alpine skiing, according to Swissinfo.
Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Swissinfo, Vancouver bobsleigh
Vancouver, BC, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland held its own against Canada in ice hockey 18 February in the Winter Games, giving Canada a 3-2 victory, but in a penalty shootout. The Canadians were widely expected to win easily: they have a strong young team, are skating on home territory and they were still bruised from their 2006 Winter Games loss to underdog Switzerland in Torino.
Background, Washington Post
Lindsey Vonn puts on fine show
Dominique Gisin's crash affected other skiers (photo: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
Gold winner Lindsey Vonn (sstock photo: ©2009 US ski team)
Vancouver, BC, Canada (GenevaLunch) – American Lindsey Vonn took gold in the Women’s Downhill at Whistler mountain, in a race marked by her excellent performance, four crashes on the undulating course and wide gaps between skiers’ times. Vonn, with a time of 1:44.19, finished an impressive .056 ahead of fellow American Julia Mancuso, who won silver. The bronze medal went to Austrian Elisabeth Goergl, a full 1.46 behind Vonn. The best performance by a Swiss skier was Fabienne Suter’s. She came in nearly two seconds behind the winner, for fifth place, a remarkable performance considering that she came close to crashing and managed to right herself dramatically.
Racers appeared affected by the series of crashes that started with Swiss skier Dominique Gisin. Her spectacular wipeout left the crowd silent while they waited, then cheered when she sat up: she walked away from the course, in tears, but on her own.
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Lara Gut, skier, out with injuries for much of the 2009-2010 season
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Skier Lara Gut, the new young sensation of the 2008-09 ski season, will not be part of the Swiss team skiing at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. She has been recuperating from hip surgery following an accident during training in October. Her recovery and intensive “dry” training has gone well, Swiss Ski reports, but she will not be able to start training on skis until the end of January, too late to be in shape for the Games.
Barbara Ann Scott, a diminutive 81-year-old with a girlish smile, carried the large Olympic torch into Canada’s Houses of Parliament in Ottawa Thursday 10 December, to warm applause. Scott was Canada’s sweetheart when she won the Olympic figure skating gold medal in St Moritz, Switzerland in 1948. The torch is wending its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Links to other sites: The Globe & Mail, Olympics Vancouver 2010
