Positive steps are being taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as they have created a working party to help re-shape the future of the Olympic movement.
This working party will look closely at the bidding procedures to host both Summer and Winter Olympic games, an area that definitely needs reform; it will be interesting to see if other sporting bodies look at their findings and adopt them.
New President of the IOC German Thomas Bach has decided that the IOC needs to freshen up its image and has recruited a number of international figures to look at all aspects of the Olympic Games in 14 different working groups. So far the two people credited with the success of the London 2012 Olympics, Lord Sebastian Coe and Dame Tessa Jowell have been recruited to work together again.
Also on board are the new head of the World Anti Doping Agency, Sir Craig Reedie, Google’s executive Chairman, Billionaire Eric Schmidt and Singapore-born British violinist Vanessa Mae. The latter is expected to assist in the cultural aspects of the Olympics.
Mae recently participated at the 2014 Winter Olympics as an alpine skier with the name Vanessa Vanakorn, representing Thailand. She unofficially qualified, under a second set of provisions for Olympic hopefuls, and the Thai Olympic selectors then accepted her bid to represent the country because her father is Thai. She became the second ever Winter Olympian for Thailand, leading the largest ever Thai delegation at a Winter Olympics which consisted of just two skiers.
Mae/Vanakorn participated in the Giant Slalom at the end of the event, she had a total time of 3:26.97, 50.10 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Tina Maze of Slovenia. She was last among the finishers, ranking 67th.
