So tomorrow nite Santa Claus will be delivering presents throughout the world to all the good little girls and boys. Santa has never competed at the Olympics, one major reason being that he lives at the North Pole, which is not affiliated with any known National Olympic Committee. It is unknown if he has ever attempted to become affiliated with Greenland, which claims the North Pole, and whose athletes have competed for Denmark. Further, another reason Santa has not competed at the Olympics is that he is, to be politically correct here, somewhat adipose-challenged.

However, in searching our database, we did find the following Olympians who may be related to Santa Claus, although we have not yet finished the search for these relations. Attempts to reach Santa and discuss this were unsuccessful, as his administrative assistant told us, “He’ll get back to you after the New Year. This is really his busy time of year.”

Christian Claus sailed for Austria at the 1988 Olympics, finishing fourth in the Tornado, alongside Norbert Petschel. That same year Yves Clausse, a Luxembourgeois swimmer, also competed at the Olympics, as he did again in 1992. Clausse swam the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle, with a best finish of 28^th in the 1988 50 metre freestyle. It is not known if he changed his name from Claus, possibly because of a falling out with Santa over not receiving the presents he wanted.

Hildrun Claus was a long jumper for East Germany who competed at the 1964 Olympics, although under her married name of Laufer-Claus, having married Peter Laufer. If related to Santa, it is unknown if he approved of this marriage.

Another East German athlete was Kerstin Claus, a high hurdler at the 1980 Olympics, but she competed again in 1988 as Kerstin Knabe.

But of all Santa Claus’s potential Olympic relatives, surely one must be the 2012 Dutch decathlete Eelco Sintnicolaas.

Let’s not also forget that in 1992 a Swedish horse named Lille Claus competed in equestrian. Perhaps she had some reindeer ancestors.

Two Santas have competed at the Olympics – Santa Margarita Skeet played basketball for Cuba at the 1980 Olympics, the team placing sixth, and Santa Inés Melchor competed in athletics for Peru in both 2004 at Athina and 2012 in London, running the 5,000 metres in 2004, and finishing 25^th in the marathon in 2012.

And again, from the reindeer line, Santa Bell was a Dutch horse at the 1936 Olympics, and the horse Santa Fe competed in equestrian for Argentina in both 1948 and 1952.

So what about those reindeer – any of them compete in the Olympics that we know of? Well, we’re not too sure of that, with no reindeer events, but it appears that Santa named his reindeer after a group of Olympians. It is also possible that the trainer of his reindeer is the 2012 Dutch beach volleyball player Reinder Nummerdor.

Six time Olympic fencing champion Rudolf Kárpáti was a soldier in the Hungarian Army during Hungary’s communist era so perhaps he is the “Rudolf the Red” to lead the team.

Australian hockey player Barry Dancer and Helmuth Donner, the Austrian high jumper are easy picks and maybe you could just get away with choosing Uruguayan basketball star Carlos Blixen to the reindeer roster – but then you have to get a little more creative.

Usain Bolt seems a good choice for Dasher,, or you may prefer the Swiss ski jumping brothers Hans and Andreas Däscher. Valegro, the horse that in partnership with Charlotte Dujardin won dressage gold in 2012, might make a good Prancer and it’s fortunate that the nickname of cross-country skier Gunnar Samuelsson (1960) happened to be Comet.

Since a Vixen is a female fox then Jess Fox, the canoe slalom medallist from 2012, can be recruited with little difficulty which just leaves us with one position to fill.

Cupid was difficult, very difficult, but if you know your mythology you know that Cupid was the Roman counterpart to the Greek God Eros. This gives us a tenuous excuse to pick Italian cyclist Eros Poli to complete our team.

So there you have it – we’ll keep searching and if we confirm relationships to Santa Claus, or his reindeer, we’ll let you know. (With thanx to Hilary Evans, Jeroen Heijmans, Ralf Regnitter, and all the OlyMADMen)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, and Happy Holidays to all – and to all a good night.

And so it has come to this – Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing, China are the two remaining candidate cities to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Almaty was formerly known as Alma-Ata when Kazakhstan was a Soviet Republic, and was known as Verniy in the years before the Bolshevik Revolution.

Beijing is an interesting choice for a number of reasons. First of all, Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. No city has ever hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics and many people think it would not be feasible to do so. However, if you have been to Beijing, and traveled to the Great Wall, you know that high mountains and very cold weather are only 50-70 km outside of the city. If you want to see steep mountains, try hiking up some sections of the Great Wall sometime.

Since it seems so unusual, has any city ever bid to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics prior to Beijing? In fact, it has happened and far more frequently than you would imagine.

We must discuss one aberration which are the 1956 Equestrian Games. The 1956 Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia, which had strict animal quarantine laws and required the 1956 equestrian events to be moved to another country and city, which turned out to be Stockholm, Sweden. But there was a bid for that hosting responsibility, and Berlin, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro also bid for the 1956 equestrian games.

So now we have three different types of possible Games bids – Summer, Winter, and Equestrian. One city, Stockholm, has sorta bid for all versions of the Olympics. It hosted the Summer Olympics in 1912, the Equestrian Olympics in 1956, bid for the Summer Games in 1952 and 2004, and put in a preliminary bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, but withdrew that in January 2014 because of lack of governmental support.

Four cities also bid for the Summer and Equestrian Olympics – Berlin, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro – all the losing bid cities for the 1956 Equestrian Games.

However, most importantly, 6 cities have bid for both the Summer and Winter Olympics, of which Beijing is only the most recent. Here is the full list of cities that have bid for both versions of the Olympics:

[table]

City,NOC,Ssn,Yr1,Yr2,Yr3,Yr4,Yr5

Beijing,CHN,S,2000,2008,,,

,,W,2022,,,,

Helsinki,FIN,S,1936,1940,1944,1952,

,,W,2006,,,,

Minneapolis,USA,S,1948,1952,1956,,

,,W,1932,,,,

Montréal,CAN,S,1940,1944,1956,1972,1976

,,W,1932,1936,1944,1956,

München,FRG,S,1972,,,,

,,W,2018,,,,

Torino,ITA,S,1908,,,,

,,W,2006,,,,

[/table]

No city has ever won the bid to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics, but all but one of the above cities have hosted one Olympics – Summer by Beijing in 2008, Helsinki in 1952, Montréal in 1976, München in 1972; and Winter by Torino in 2006. The lone exception is Minneapolis, Minnesota, which bid for three Summer Olympics and one Winter Olympics, but has yet to see Olympic Rings in their city.

Can Beijing do it? With only two cities, they should have at least a 50% chance, and their ratings by the IOC Evaluation Commission were far higher than those for Almaty. (Oslo, Norway, which recently turned the chance to bid, had the highest ratings of all.) The bid will be announced on 31 July 2015 at the IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow, 16 December, four US cities will make presentations to the US Olympic Committee, who will then select one city as the US choice to be candidate city to host the 2024 Olympic Games. The four US cities bidding are Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Los Angeles is well known in the Olympic world. If selected, this would be Los Angeles’s 10^th bid to host the Olympic Games – after 1924, 1928, 1932, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1976, 1980, and 1984. Los Angeles won the bid in 1932 and 1984, acting as the host city. In addition, Los Angeles also bid one other time – in 1956 for the Equestrian Games. The 1956 Olympics were in Melbourne, Australia and restrictive animal quarantine laws forced the equestrian events to be moved to another city and nation, which turned out to be Stockholm, Sweden.

Los Angeles has thus bid 9 times previously for the Summer Olympics, which is an all-time record. Rome, Italy has bid 8 times, winning in 1908 (when it turned down the Games eventually) and 1960. Rome recently announced plans to bid for 2024. Tied for third for most Summer Olympic bids is Athens, which bid 7 times, and has hosted the 1896 and 2004 Olympics, and the 1906 Intercalated Games.

The city tied with Athens is a US one, and nobody would ever guess that Detroit, Michigan has bid for 7 Summer Olympics. Detroit holds the sad distinction (and an expensive one) of making the most Olympic bids without ever winning one.

San Francisco has bid for the Olympics before, back in 1956. There were 10 candidate cities that year, including 6 American ones, and San Francisco was eliminated after the first round vote, having received 0 votes.

Boston and Washington, DC have never bid before for the Olympics, so this will be a first for them.

Why is it necessary for the USOC to pick only one city – couldn’t all four US cities submit bids to the International Olympic Committee? That used to be the case, but since the 1970s the USOC and the IOC have only allowed one city from any nation to bid. The saves the nation money, and also gives the cities more chance to win, as multiple US cities would only split the votes.

But back when it was allowed, US cities liked to bid for the Olympics, led by the aforementioned 1956 bid with 6 US cities involved – Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. In 1948 and 1952 there were also multiple US cities bidding, with 4 in 1948 (Baltimore, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia) and 5 in 1952 (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia).

At the Winter Olympics, there have also been several times when multiple US cities have bid, most notably in 1932 when 6 US cities bid – Lake Placid, Bear Mountain, New York; Duluth, Minnesota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, and Yosemite Valley, California. In 1956 Colorado Springs and Lake Placid also made bids.

Here are all the American cities that have bid for the Summer Olympics and the years they bid, also listing the number of times they have won:

[table]

City, Wins, Yr1, Yr2, Yr3, Yr4, Yr5, Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr9

Atlanta,1,1920,1996,,,,,,,

Baltimore,0,1948,,,,,,,,

Chicago,0,1904,1952,1956,2016,,,,,

Cleveland,0,1916,1920,,,,,,,

Detroit,0,1944,1952,1956,1960,1964,1968,1972,,

Los Angeles,2,1924,1928,1932,1948,1952,1956,1976,1980,1984

Minneapolis,0,1948,1952,1956,,,,,,

New York,0,2012,,,,,,,,

Philadelphia,0,1920,1948,1952,1956,,,,,

San Francisco,0,1956,,,,,,,,

St.Louis,1,1904,,,,,,,,

[/table]

So here we go. One US city will be chosen tomorrow. Many people feel that Los Angeles would have the best chance to win the bid. But if the writer of this blog is allowed to pick favorites … Go Boston!

The IOC, meeting the last few days in Monte Carlo, is discussing whether or not the 2018 Winter Olympic host city Pyeongchang, should move the sliding events (bobsled, luge, skeleton) to another city, with Nagano in Japan, host of the 1998 Winter Olympics, being mentioned as a possibility, although the IOC noted it could be held at as many as 12 sliding centers worldwide.

Has this ever happened before at the Winter Olympics? Well, no Winter Olympic event has ever been held in a nation other than the nation of the host city, but a similar problem arose in 1960 with the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. The Squaw Valley organizers refused to build a bob run that year, citing the costs and the fact that only nine European countries were pledging to compete in the sport that year. Remember that in 1960, getting from Europe to Squaw Valley, near Reno, Nevada, was not easy, especially while transporting bobsleds.

The FIBT (Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing) countered by holding World Championships in 1960 bobsledding in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The FIBT had never before held World Championships in a Winter Olympic year, and would not start doing it again until 1992.

But there have been other times that Olympic events have been held in different nations. The best known example is 1956 when the equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden, instead of Melbourne, Australia. In that era, Australia had strict quarantine laws for animal entering the country, and the horses would have had to arrive in Australia and be quarantined for six months before being allowed to train and compete, obviously an untenable situation.

In 1920, when the Olympics were in Antwerp, Belgium, the 12-foot dinghy yachting event (now sailing) was held in Oostende, Belgium on 7-8 July. On the second day there was a problem with the course related to one of the buoys, when it shifted position, so the race was declared void. Both of the entered yachts were from the Netherlands, so it was elected to finish the final two races in the Netherlands, on the Buiten-IJ, a water near Amsterdam, on 3 September.

In 1908 yachting, one could also argue that the events were held in different countries, although not different NOCs. The 1908 Olympics were in London, England, and most of the yachting events were held off the coast of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south of England, in the English Channel. However, the 12-metre class was sailed in Glasgow, Scotland, technically a different country to some International Federations, but not to the IOC.

Sailing, or the earlier term yachting, has often been held far from the host city. In 2008, the sailing events were held at Qingdao, on the coast of China, and 718 km (446 miles) from Beijing. In 1996, the sailing competition was held at Wassaw Bay in Savannah, 248 miles (400 km) from Atlanta. In 1972, the yachting events were held in Kiel, in the very northern part of Germany, very near to Denmark, which was 871 km (541 miles) from München.

Football also spreads its games around quite a bit now, although they have always been held in the same nation as the host city, with one possible exception. In 1984, when the Games were in Los Angeles, some preliminary football matches were contested at Harvard Stadium, in Allston, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, which is 2,611 miles (4,205 km) from Los Angeles. In 1996, with the Games in Atlanta, some preliminary football matches took place in Washington, DC.

In 2012, one could again argue that some football matches took place in different countries, as some preliminaries took place in Glasgow, Scotland and Cardiff, Wales. Per FIFA, England, Scotland, and Wales are considered separate nations, or perhaps better termed geo-political entities (GPE), but the IOC only recognizes Great Britain.

In 2008, in addition to sailing at Qingdao, equestrian events were held at Hong Kong, China, which is fully 1,977 km (1,228 miles) from Beijing. Although Hong Kong was part of China in 2008, they were separate NOCs.

And there have been attempts to host the Winter Olympics in contiguous nations, with Östersund, Sweden having considered hosting the Alpine skiing events in Norway. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, Klagenfurt, Austria made a co-bid with Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and Jesnice, Slovenia, but the bid was not advanced to the final stage of voting. In early bidding for 2006, Helsinki, Finland was going to hold the Alpine skiing events in Lillehammer, Norway; and for the 2022 Olympics, an early candidate was a combined bid from Krakow, Poland and Jasna, Slovakia. And going way back, Lahti, Finland, bidding for the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Winter Olympics, and Tampere, Finland, bidding for the 1976 Winter Olympics, both planned to hold the Alpine skiing events in Åre, Sweden.

So if the 2018 bobsledding events are moved from Pyeongchang, it will not be without precedent at the Olympics.

WW2 Prisoner-of-War,1^st Soviet Gymnastic Hero, 11-time Olympic medalist

[table]

Category,Data

Full Name,Viktor Ivanovych Chukarin

Used Name,Viktor Chukarin

Original Name,Віктор Іванович Чукарін

Other Names,Viktor Ivanovich Chukarin; Виктор Иванович Чукарин

Born,9 November 1921; Krasnoarmeyskoye-Krym (UKR)

Died,25 August 1984; Lviv-Lviv (UKR)

Affiliations,Iskra Lvov / Burevestnik Lvov

Ethnic Nation,UKR

[/table]

[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place,Medals

1952 Summer,Gymnastics,Individual All-Around,1,Gold

,,Team All-Around,1,Gold

,,Floor Exercise,=29,

,,Horse Vault,1,Gold

,,Parallel Bars,2,Silver

,,Horizontal Bar,5,

,,Rings,2,Silver

,,Pommelled Horse,1,Gold

1956 Summer,Gymnastics,Individual All-Around,1,Gold

,,Team All-Around,1,Gold

,,Floor Exercise,=2,Silver

,,Horse Vault,=7,

,,Parallel Bars,1,Gold

,,Horizontal Bar,=4,

,,Rings,=7,

,,Pommelled Horse,3,Bronze

[/table]

[table]

Medals,Number

Gold,7

Silver,3

Bronze,1

Total,11

[/table]

Viktor Chukarin was a former World War II prisoner-of-war, who was 30-years-old when the USSR first competed at the Olympic Games in 1952. Despite these handicaps, he dominated the gymnastics competition in Helsinki, winning the all-around title in addition to taking gold in the team event and four medals in the individual apparatus events – gold on the pommelled horse and horse vault, and silver on the parallel bars and rings. In 1956, he successfully defended his all-around title and added two more gold, one as a member of the winning team, a silver and a bronze medal to bring his tally of Olympic medals to a then record total of 11. His 1956 individual medals were as follows: gold – all-around, parallel bars, team; silver – floor exercises; and bronze – pommelled horse. He was also World Champion in 1954 in the all-around and parallel bars and, after retiring, became head of gymnastics at the L’viv Institute of Physical Culture in his native Ukraine.

Yesterday, the still unnamed mascot of the Rio 2016 Olympics was presented to the world. As always, the responses are mixed, some calling it “a yellow cat-like thing“, others declaring it “cute, cuddly and capable of brining in hundreds of millions in revenue“, while it reminds some of us here of Top Cat.

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The new Olympic (left) and Paralympic mascots – still to be named.

A mascot is originally a good luck charm, which was also its original role at the Olympics. For the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, a skier named Schuss made its appearance. The stylized man was created unofficially for the Games. The first official mascot followed four years later, in Munich: a colored dachshund named Waldi. The marathon course that year was modelled to look like the profile of the dog. From Innsbruck 1976, where Schneemann was used to ensure a snow-filled Games, all Olympics have had mascots. Besides a good luck charm, they’ve figured in opening ceremonies, are used for distraction during breaks and – of course – to boost the sales of Olympic memorabilia.

In true OlympStats style, we could present you a list of all Olympic mascots here, but there’s several places on the web that already do a comendable job. In particular, the IOC has two reference documents (Summer, Winter) that extensively describe and depict all mascots.

So, instead I’ve listed my personal top three of best and worst Olympic mascots.

Top 3 best Olympic mascots

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My favorite Olympic mascot: Hodori from Seoul 1988.

1. Hodori 1988 – a tiger with a Korean hat, is simple, not too cliché, and funny.
2. Quatchi 2010 – based on the legendary sasquatch from native mythology, this furry little(?) fellow apparently still need to wear earmuffs.
3. Misha 1980 – the first mascot to be widely used, Misha is simple but very recognizable.

Top 3 worst Olympic mascots

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Worst Olympic mascot by a clear margin: Atlanta 1996’s Izzy

1. Izzy 1996 – probably the most ridiculed Olympic mascot of all time, its original name was tellingly “Whatizit”. Still, nobody knows what it is.
2. Wenlock 2012 – a droplet of steel with one eye, he loses out to Izzy due to fact his name is taken from the Much Wenlock Games, one of the source of inspiration for Pierre de Coubertin
3. Magique 1992 – unlike the top entries, Magique is actually vagualy recognizble, described by the IOC as an “imp”. But despite its name, it fails to inspire me to view magical things.

Did I miss a horrible one? Gloss over the best mascot of all time? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Yesterday, the IOC announced a set of recommendations for the future of the Olympic movement. Recommendation 37 calls for the possibility for IOC members to be granted exception to the maximum age rule, while Recommendation 11 calls to foster gender equality. So how is the IOC doing regarding age and gender equality?

When the IOC was founded in 1894, Pierre de Coubertin was 31 years old. This fit in well with the other 14 IOC members, of which the average age was just under 40, and the mean age 34.5 years.

The average age of IOC members since 1894.

Since then, the average age of IOC members has steadily grown (as has the number of members). In 1913, the average age was 50, and in 1942 it hit 60 for the first time. Save for a few dips, it has since remained steady between 60 and 65 years old. The number of IOC members under forty, which started at 9 out of 15 in 1894, remained low. In 1998, there were only 3.

Then, the bribery scandal surrounding the election of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics became public. In the aftermath of the scandal, the IOC decided to ban several members, establish an age limit of 70 for new members (and 80 for existing ones as of 1999) and add a group of athletes members. These measures increased the number of young members to 13, and lowered the average age noticeably. Currently, the average age is set to drop below 60 for the first time since 1958. A further drop is to be expected, as still 29 members over 70 are in the IOC, but that number is decreasing. By adopting recommendation 37, it is possible that the average age goes back up again, which hopefully is not a goal of the IOC 2020 plans.

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João Havelange was one of the all-time oldest IOC members when he resigned in 2011 at age 95.

Looking at gender equality, which the IOC hopes to achieve in female participation and through mixed events, the IOC still has some way to go to achieve gender equality among its members. It wasn’t until 1981 that the first women joined the IOC. Since then, the number of women has risen slowly, and currently they make up less than a quarter of its members. Of these, a significant percentage are athlete members, which are typically only a member for one or two Olympiads.

The percentage of female IOC members since 1981.

So, besides stimulating female athletes, the IOC would do well to also stimulate women taking up administrative positions in sports. Or will that have to wait for Agenda 2030?

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IOC vice-president Nawal El-Moutawakel (a former hurdles champion) is the highest ranked women in the IOC at the moment.