Italy decides against joining bombing campaign in Syria – raises questions about value of campaign

CF-18 Hornets fly in formation on their the departure for Operation IMPACT, in Cold Lake, Alberta on Tuesday October 21, 2014. The Canadian CF-18 Hornets were making their way to Kuwait, to join the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Italy will not take part in the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Syria, says Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Renzi questioned the effectiveness of the campaign and pointed to disastrous NATO war against Libya as an example of the pitfalls of such campaigns.

“If being a protagonist means playing at running after other people’s bombardments, then I say ‘no thank you,'” Renzi said. “Italy’s position is clear and solid. We want to wipe out terrorists, not please the commentators. The one thing we don’t need is to multiply on-the-spot reactions, without a strategic vision.”

Renzi pointed to the 2011 NATO bombing campaign which led to the overthrown of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. After the death of Gadhafi rebel groups carved up Libya. The country is now a haven for Islamic extremists and is mired in chaos.

“Four years of civil war in Libya show it was not a happy decision,” Renzi said, pointing out that a different strategy is needed for Syria.“The one thing we cannot allow ourselves is a repeat of Libya,” he added. - ottawacitizen

Upcoming Events - Rotman School of Management

University Of Toronto

Wednesday December 09, 2015

Rotman Life Sciences Link and Learn Sessions

Operations Management | Organizational Behaviour & HR Management | Strategic Management | Healthcare

4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Please join us for the next Rotman Life Sciences Link and Learn Sessions on Innovative Entrants to Healthcare Delivery: How they are Changing the Way We Think About Delivering Care

Thursday December 10, 2015

Big Ideas Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Alvin Roth, McCaw Professor of Economics, Stanford University; Co-Recipient, 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics; Author on his new book, Who Gets What - and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, June 2, 2015)

Friday December 11, 2015

Corporate Citizenship Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Andrew J. Hoffman, Professor of Management & Organizations; Natural Resources; Holcim (US) Inc. Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, Director – Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise on How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate.

Monday December 14, 2015

Live @ Rotman: Dalton McGuinty

Speaker Series

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Dalton McGuinty, 24th Premier of Ontario; Senior Fellow, School of Public Policy and Governance, U of Toronto; Special Advisor, Desire2Learn in conversation with Mel Cappe, Professor, School of Public Policy and Governance, U of Toronto; former Clerk of the Privy Council, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Public Service in Ottawa on his new book, “Making a Difference, A Memoir” (Dundurn, Nov. 28, 2015)

Tuesday December 15, 2015

Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence

8:00 AM - 7:00 PM

Please join us on December 15th for a full day conference: Machine Learning and the Market for Intelligence, A Rotman School of Management Conference.

Monday January 11, 2016

Getting It Done Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Chris Bailey, Jedi Master, ALifeofProductivity.com; Speaker and Author on his new book The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy Better (Random House Canada, Jan. 6, 2016)

Tuesday January 12, 2016

Leadership Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Deepak Chopra, President and CEO, Canada Post Corporation on “Can Elephants Really Dance? – What Does It Take to Transform a 252-Years Young Institution Called Canada Post?”

Rotman Institute for International Business Speaker Series

Business Economics | Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Wendy Dobson, Co-Director, Rotman Institute for International Business and Professor of Business Economics, Rotman School of Management, U of Toronto on Why Canada Needs a China Strategy.

Wednesday January 13, 2016

Behavioural Economics In Action At Rotman (BEAR) Speaker Series

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Tiina Likki, Advisor, Behavioural Insights Team, U.K. on Behavioral Insights in Welfare and Policy: Some Recent Updates from the BIT

Thursday January 21, 2016

Investing Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Michael Lee-Chin, President and Chair, Portland Holdings Inc.; Chair, NCB Jamaica Limited; Chancellor, Wilfred Laurier University on “The Wealthy Invest Differently – Opportunities Typically Reserved for the Affluent and Institutional Investor”

Wednesday January 27, 2016

The Letters MBA Student Club @ Rotman Discussion on Being Out at Work

Speaker Series

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Connie Bonello, Associate Partner, IBM Canada and Chair – Advisory Board, Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, U of Toronto, Pia Schmidt-Hansen, Manager, Fraud Risk Oversight, BMO Financial Group and Chair, BMO Pride – their LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group , Tim Thompson, Chief Operating Officer, TD Asset Management Inc. and Chair, TD’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies Diversity Committee and Christopher Walker, Chief Compliance Officer, Manulife Asset Management Limited and Executive Advisor to Proud – Manulife’s LQBTQ Network discuss The Challenges and Opportunities of Being Out and a Leader at Work. Sarah Kaplan,Professor of Strategic Management, Rotman School of Management, U of Toronto will moderate the discussion.

Tuesday February 02, 2016

Financial Advising Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Finance | Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Paulette Filion, Partner, StrategyMarketing.ca and Judy Paradi, Partner, StrategyMarketing.ca on “Financial Advisors are Failing Women: What Female Clients Really Want and How to Change the Dialogue”

Tuesday February 23, 2016

Leadership Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry, President, Institute for Health and Human Potential; Author on Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

Monday February 29, 2016

Rotman Master of Finance Speaker Series

Business Economics | Finance | Speaker Series

6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Please join us on February 29th for a presentation by Peter Pauly, Professor – Economics, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and Director ProjectLINK (United Nations)

Thursday March 03, 2016

Organizational Psychology Experts Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Rasmus Hougaard, Founder and Managing Director, The Potential Project (global provider of corporate mindfulness programs) and Co-Author, One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness (Palgrave MacMillan, Nov. 3, 2015) and Jacqueline Carter, Partner, The Potential Project International; Director of The Potential Project North America and Co-Author, One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness (Palgrave MacMillan, Nov. 3, 2015) on their new book, Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness.

Thursday March 31, 2016

MPI #Shiftdisturbers Speaker Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Adam Grant, Professor of Management, Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania; Author on his new book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World (Viking, Feb. 2 2016)

Thursday April 07, 2016

Business Sustainability Strategy Experts Discussion Series @ Rotman

Speaker Series

5:00 PM - 7:15 PM

Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation, Robert Hardt, President & CEO, Siemens Canada, Terry Mah, President & CEO, Veolia North America and Annette Verschuren, Chairman & CEO, NRStor on Building a Culture of Innovation and Sustainability To Strategically Deploy Sustainability-Led Innovation - Lessons from 4 CEOs. Richard P. Blundell, Executive-in-Residence, Business Sustainability, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto - rotman.utoronto

Sport Inclusion at the Olympics

In July 2007, the International Olympic Committee adopted more flexible rules to add new Olympic sports. This has given renewed hope to many sports that have been on the waiting list for many years. Such sports include Rugby, Golf, Karate, Squash and Roller Sports. In 2009, Rugby and Golf were selected to make a comeback to the Olympic program for Rio in 2016. In 2013, wrestling was dropped from the core sports list, opening up a place for another sport to be included in the program, but later that year was surprisingly voted back on the list.

New System

A new system was introduced, which consisted of 25 core sports with three “floating” sports. This new system was set to start from the Olympics from 2020. The cap of 28 sport was then lifted to a more flexibile model. However, it is not all good news, as all sports would be up for review after each Olympics. New sports will be included or others dropped by a simple majority vote (compared to currently requiring a 2/3’s majority). 

List of 28 Sports

1. archery
2. rowing
3. badminton
4. basketball
5. boxing
6. canoeing
7. cycling
8. equestrian
9. fencing
10. football
11. golf
12. gymnastics
13. handball
14. hockey
15. judo
16. modern pentathlon
17. rugby
18. sailing
19. shooting
20. swimming (aquatics)
21. table tennis
22. taekwondo
23. tennis
24. track and field
25. triathlon
26. volleyball
27. weight lifting
28. wrestling

Dropping Sports

There needs to be exceptional circumstances for a core sport to be dropped from the program, such as a drug scandal, corruption or a massive drop in popularity. There were 28 different sports on the program for the Beijing Games, which was reduced to 26 for London when Baseball and Softball were dropped from the program. In 2013, wrestling was dropped from the sports list (but reinstated later).

New Sports

There are always new and ex-Olympic sports vying for a place on the Olympic program. Recently, the popular choices have included baseball and softball (joint bid), climbing, karate, roller sport, squash, wakeboard and wushu. Surfing, dancing, bowling and netball have also been considered. See our article about future Olympic sports for more details.

Criteria

The Tokyo 2020 committee listed the following criteria for new sports: added value; youth appeal; attractiveness for TV, media and the general public; gender equality; minimum impact on the number of events and/or quotas, infrastructure and operational costs and complexity. - topendsports

Animals and the Olympic Games

Other than the animals depicted as Olympic Games mascots, the Equestrian events (and the equestrian part of Modern Pentathlon) are the only current Olympic events that involve animals. This has not always the case.

In the Ancient Olympics, chariot races and horse racing were once part of the program, and animal sacrifice was often a component of the ceremonies surrounding the events.

In modern times, a shooting event called Live Pigeon Shooting was held in 1900. The object of this event was to shoot and kill as many birds as possible. This was the first and only time in Olympic history when animals were killed on purpose. In 1988 birds were again killed at the Olympics, but accidentally this time. At the opening ceremony a flock of doves was released into the stadium and unfortunately as the cauldron was lit some of the birds were burned to death.

Another animal shooting event was on the program between 1908 till 1948. In the running deer shooting event, however, the "deer' in this case were targets in the shape of deer.

At the Winter Olympics, the only involvement of animals has been in demonstration events. At the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1932 there was a Dog sled racing demonstration event. Horses were involved at the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz, in the Skijoring demonstration event which involved athletes being towed behind horses. - topendsports

Sports of Future Olympic Games

The number of Olympic Games sports has grown from nine at the first Olympic Games in 1896, to 28 to be contested at the Rio Olympics in 2016, with more sports always keen to get into this exclusive list. See the changes in the sports program over time.

Sports come in and out of vogue around the world over time, and in order to continue to be relevant to the world of sport, the Olympic Games needs to adapt with these changes.

There are always sports on the fringe of being selected into the Games, and those that only stay in due to being a traditional part of the Games. In recent years, Baseball and Softball have been dropped from the program, while golf and rugby union will return to the program in 2016. Of course there is a limit to the number of sports and therefore athletes that can be included, and there are specific rules in place for including new sports.

Event Changes

Under the rules of the Olympic Charter, the IOC Executive Board are able to add new disciplines to existing sports without needing the approval of the full membership. Although many sports were looking at adding extra events to their program, in mid 2013 the Executive Board decided not to include any more events on the program for 2016. Sports which had applied to add new disciplines for Rio 2016 included basketball (3x3 event), cycling (a points race, BMX freestyle and mountain bike eliminator events), triathlon (mixed relay); and judo (team event).

For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, some sports will be looking to add new sports events under an existing sport. The International Basketball Federation plan to apply for 3x3 basketball to be added to the program, and possibly other sports too.

2020 Sports and Beyond

New rules brought in by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Agenda 2020 reform process allow each Organizing Committee "to make a proposal for the inclusion of one or more additional events on the programme for that edition of the Olympic Games", with the final decision resting with the IOC.

2013 Voting

In February 2013 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executives met to discuss the make-up of the Summer Games from 2020. At that time, wrestling was the sport cut from the list, even though modern pentathlon was reported to be most in danger.

There followed a selection process for sports bidding for inclusion in the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. Wrestling was brought back into the battle to appear in Tokyo in 2020, along with baseball and softball (joint bid), climbing, karate, roller sport, squash, wakeboard and wushu. It is also interesting to note a few other sports that were considered. Apparently 12 sports were initially considered and only the eight sports mentioned above were retained. Surfing, dancing, bowling and netball missed out.

In May 2013 the IOC cut karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu from this list, leaving Baseball-softball, squash and wrestling on the shortlist for inclusion on the 2020 Olympic program. The announcement of which of these three sports was selected at the 125th IOC Session in September 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina - the winner was wrestling. So ultimately no 'new' sport was added.

2015 Voting

There is still a chance more sports may be added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The latest information suggest that due to its huge popularity in Japan, men's baseball and women's softball are favorites to return to the program after being dropped following the Beijing 2008 Games. Karate, squash, skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and roller sports are others with serious chances, while new disciplines in pre-existing sports, like 3x3 basketball, are also vying for inclusion.

In June 2015, twenty-six International Olympic Committee (IOC)-recognized Federations proposed events to be considered for inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: 'baseball and softball', karate, squash, bowling, snooker, sport climbing, surfing, wushu, roller sports, air sports, American football, bowls, bridge, chess, dancesport, floorball, flying disc, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, sumo, tug of war, underwater sports and water skiing. Only seven IOC-recognized sports did not apply: climbing and mountaineering, motorcycling, motor racing, cricket, basque pelota, lifesaving and powerboating. On June 22, this list was reduced to a shortlist of eight sports: baseball and softball, bowling, karate, roller skating, sport climbing, squash, surfing and wushu.

On September 28 2015, the shortlist was reduced to five sports - baseball and softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing and surfing (leaving out bowling, squash and wushu). These sports have been recommended for inclusion on the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020. Final confirmation is expected to be made at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016, with no details on exactly how many sports will be added. - topendsports

Sports of the Olympic Games

At the first Olympic Games in 1896, there were nine sports contested. Since that time many sports have been added (and removed too) from the program. Only five sports have been contested at every summer Olympic Games since 1896: Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics and Swimming. In 2012 there was 26 sports contested, and in 2016 there will be 28 (see list). There are pages about the number of sports at each Olympiad, and also the changes over time.

Recent Changes

After the 2008 Olympics the sports of Baseball and Softball were dropped from the program. In August 2009 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted on which two sports will be added to the program for Rio 2016. There was a list of seven sports that they chose from: golf, rugby union, roller sports, karate, softball, baseball and squash. They selected golf and rugby union.

There are many other possible new sports for future Games. In February 2013, wrestling was dropped from the core sports list, and joined with baseball and softball (joint bid), climbing, karate, roller sport, squash, wakeboard and wushu to attempt to gain a place on the program for 2020. In May 2013 the IOC cut Karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu from this list, leaving Baseball-softball, squash and wrestling to be shortlisted. Then in September 2013, they voted to return wrestling to the list of sports for the 2020 Olympic program. In 2015, further voting was held for the inclusion of more sports. - topendsports

Major World Sporting Events

The top three world sporting events are apparently the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, though there are many more major sporting events.

Below are some of the events that are featured on this site. For the sports fan, the major sporting events that only come around once or year or every few years are highly anticipated, and worth waiting for.

Soccer World Cup

• World Cup Soccer — the next World Cup is to be held in 2018 in Russia. Look here for the latest and greatest source of information about the event.

Olympic Games

• Summer Olympics — information about the Summer Olympic Games.
• Discontinued Olympic Events — a fascinating site containing information about discontinued Olympic events.
• Winter Olympics — information about the Winter Olympic Games.
• Aussie Olympics — a site dedicated to Australia's participation at the Olympic Games.
• Paralympic Games — information about the Paralympic Games.

Other Multi-Sport Events

• Commonwealth Games — everything you ever wanted to know about the Commonwealth Games, the next being held on the Gold Coast in 2018.
• European Games — the inaugural event took place in 2015.
• Asian Games — multi-sport Games for Asian countries, first held in 1951.
• Gay Games — held every 4 years, is open to all who wish to participate, without regard to sexual orientation.
• World Military Games — a multi-sport event for military sports people
• Youth Olympics — an international multi-sport event, held every four years for athletes aged 14 to 18.
• List of other World Multi-Sport Events

Other World Major Events

• Rugby World Cup, Six Nations
• Football Super Bowl
• Cycling Events, such as the Tour de France
• Tennis Grand Slam
• Baseball World Series and World Classic
• Netball World Championships
• Soccer Asian Cup, Africa Cup of Nations
• Sailing America's Cup
• Swimming World Championships
• Golf Majors, Ryder Cup
• Cricket World Cup
• Horse Racing Major Events
• Winter Sports Events - topendsports