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Fact of the day
Frank Kugler won four Olympics medals in freestyle wrestling, weightlifting and tug of war at St Louis in 1904, making him the only competitor to win a medal in three different sports at the same Games. He claimed a silver medal in the heavyweight category in wrestling, bronze in the two hand lift and all-around dumbbell events in weightlifting and another bronze in the tug of war competition as a member of Southwest Turnverein of Saint Louis No. 2 team. He is recognised as an American by the International Olympic Committee although he was a German national at the time of the Games.
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IOC sell Japanese TV rights for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 for $472 million
Friday, 03 February 2012
February 3 - The Japan Consortium has been awarded the Olympic broadcast rights in Japan for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and Rio 2016 Summer Olympics following a in a $472 million (£298 million/€359 million) deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The deal means that Japan Consortium, which includes NHK (the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters of Japan, has acquired the broadcast rights across all media platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile.
Four years ago, the same group paid $426 million (£269 million/€323 million) for rights to Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
"We are delighted to continue our long-term relationship with the Japan Consortium," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.
"Japan is an important Olympic nation with a long Olympic history, and the Japan Consortium has been responsible for providing great coverage of the Olympic Games.
"The Japan Consortium has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Olympic Movement."
The move is also a major boost to Japan as it puts them in pole position to secure the rights in the country for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games and also 2020 Summer Games
The 2020 Games could of particular interest to the broadcaster as the Japanese capital city Tokyo is currently bidding to host the event.
Tokyo is up against five other bidders with Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid and Rome also confirmed as the applicant cities for the Games.
The negotiation for the deal that saw Japan Consortium secure the broadcast rights for the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympics was led by Puerto Rico's IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who is also the chairman and chief executive of the high profile financial services conglomerate Popular, Inc.
"The Japan Consortium has been an excellent broadcast partner for the Olympic Movement", said Carrión.
"We look forward to continuing this relationship for the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games and to making fantastic coverage of the Olympic Games available to sports fans in Japan."
Carrión also spearheaded the high profile negotiations with American broadcaster NBC in the $4.38 billion (£2.66 billion/€3.2 billion) deal last June which saw them retain the rights to broadcast the Olympics through until the 2020 Games.
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Denmark's Poul-Erik Høyer is the only non-Asian badminton player ever to win an Olympic gold medal, giving him a unique place in the sport's history. He is now set to become the first European President of the Badminton World Federation for 20 years with the aim of uniting the two continents, as he tells James Crook in this exclusive interview
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