IOC to vote on skiercross, women's jumping

Addition of new events for the Olympic Winter Games and a partial lifting of a freeze on payments to the international amateur boxing federation will be considered by the IOC this week. 

KUWAIT CITY — Addition of new events for the Olympic Winter Games and a partial lifting of a freeze on payments to the international amateur boxing federation will be considered by the IOC this week.   
    Beijing's preparations for the 2008 Olympics and the soaring construction costs for the 2012 London Games will also be reviewed at the two-day meeting of the International Olympic Committee executive board beginning Tuesday.
    Likely to be approved for inclusion at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is skierross, a freestyle event similar to snowboardcross, which debuted at the Torino Games 10 months ago and drew good crowds.   
    Skiercross involves groups of skiers racing each other to the bottom of a course featuring jumps, rollers, banks and other man-made and natural terrain features. The competition is part of the International Ski Federation's World Cup freestyle circuit, which also includes the Olympic events of aerials and moguls.
    Among other events up for consideration are women's ski jumping, a team event in Alpine skiing, individual curling and team luge. However, the prospects of any of those being approved appear slim.
    Ski jumping is the only sport in the Winter Olympics in which women don't participate. While the IOC is eager to have gender equity in all sports, officials say women's jumping hasn't yet been fully established, noting that the first world championships in the event aren't scheduled until 2009   
    Canada's women ski jumpers sent a letter to Vancouver organizers on Nov. 20, urging them to ''embrace this opportunity to remove the final barrier to equal participation by women at the Vancouver Olympics.''
    The Kuwait meeting is the last chance for new events to secure a spot on the Vancouver sports program. The next opportunity will be for the 2014 Games.
    The IOC will also review boxing to see whether it is making the reforms needed to regain its Olympic funding. The IOC froze about US$1 million in payments to the International Amateur Boxing Association after the 2004 Athens Games, citing concerns over scoring and the selection of judges.
    A possible step forward came last month when longtime AIBF President Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan was defeated in a re-election bid by Taiwan's Ching-Kuo Wu at the association's congress in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Critics had accused the 84-year-old Chowdhry, who led the federation for 20 years, of corruption and mismanagement.
    The IOC believes Wu still has a lot of work to do to get the federation into line. In the meantime, the IOC is considering releasing several hundred thousands dollars in development funds as a first gesture of support for the new leadership.
    With the 2008 Games less than two years away, Beijing organizers will submit their test progress report to the IOC. While the venues are on schedule, officials are expected to give an indication of their plans for ticket pricing, including making tickets affordable to everyday Chinese.
    London organizers are not attending the Kuwait meeting, but Denis Oswald, the IOC executive who chairs the coordination commission for the 2012 Games, will address the board. He's likely to cover the issue of capital cost increases, which has been making big headlines in Britain the past two weeks.
    The British government announced last week that the infrastructure and venue costs for the main Olympic complex had gone up by 900 million pounds (US$1.7 billion; €1.3 million) to 3.3 billion pounds (US$6.25 billion; €4.87 billion), mainly due to higher steel prices and security concerns. Some suggest the total cost could reach more than 8 billion pounds (US$15.1 billion; €11.8 billion).
    London organizers and the IOC insist, however, that much of the costs are not directly related to the Olympics, and are meant for the long-term regeneration of the rundown east London site where the main Olympic park is being built. The actual Games operating budget is about 2 billion pounds (US$3.87 billion; €2.95 billion), and the IOC says it is satisfied with the pace of preparations.
    The IOC board will also get an update on the continuing investigation into the seizure of alleged doping substances and equipment at the lodgings of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon teams during the Torino Games. The IOC has received some preliminary findings from Italian authorities but not enough to take any action so far.
    This is the last IOC board meeting of the year, and the first ever in Kuwait. From here, IOC President Jacques Rogge and the board will travel to Doha, Qatar, for the start of the Asian Games.

— The Associated Press