LAGOS – Embattled Sepp Blatter is not attending the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Candidate City Briefing for the 2022 Winter Olympic race in Lausanne, Switzerland next week, it has been confirmed.
This is contained in the latest edition of the Insidethegames, an online publication on major world Games..
Blatter, whose announcement on June 2 that he will step down as FIFA President just a few days after he had been elected to serve a fifth term in office generated shock-waves around the world, would be expected to attend along with all other IOC members.
It quotes a FIFA statement as confirming that Blatter had informed the IOC he would not attend in April, before the latest crisis erupted within football’s governing body.
The insidethegames adds: “His plans have not changed’’, stressing, that his “future travel plans of the FIFA President will only be confirmed in due course.”
Blatter is not a member of the IOC Executive Board, so would not have been expected to attend the meeting on June 7.
But all members are invited to the Briefing on June 9, which will be followed the next day by individual meetings with officials from both Almaty and Beijing, the cities locked in a two-horse race to be awarded the Games.
Given the low key nature of the race, and the fact it is for a Winter rather than a Summer Olympics, it it is possible that many other IOC members will make a similar decision.
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A list of excused members will be circulated by the IOC before the start of the presentations.
A final decision will be made as to who will host the Games on July 31 at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur where, as an eligible voter, it would be more of a surprise if Blatter did not attend. (NAN)
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