Candidature Files On 12 February, the IOC announced that it had received the Candidature Files from the four Candidate Cities for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016. Chicago ( USA), Tokyo ( Japan), Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil) and Madrid ( Spain) ( in order of drawing of lots) all submitted their files by the deadline of midnight on 12 February. The IOC Evaluation Commission, chaired by IOC Executive Board member Nawal El Moutawakel, will now analyse the Files and visit each of the cities. The IOC's Giving is Winningcampaign was lifted to new heights with more than double the results of the first edition organised during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Some 75,000 items of casual and sports clothing, which corresponds to 16 containers, were collected from the Olympic Family in the run- up to and during the Olympic Games in Beijing. In the Olympic Village alone, athletes, team members and officials donated more than 21,000 items. The project was jointly implemented by the IOC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) with the aim of facilitating sports activities in refugee camps. The UNHCR has distributed the collected clothes to various camps in Europe, Asia and Africa. For refugees, sport can provide a semblance of normality, hope and structure to lives that have been disrupted by conflict. Feedback from the ground has shown that, especially for young refugees, the gift of sportswear associated with famous athletes is a tremendous morale- booster and a sign that the outside world does still care. Mr António Guterres, UNHCR, expressed his gratitude to the Olympic Family. " On behalf of the UNHCR and the nearly 32 million people of concern to this office, I would like to express my appreciation and commend those Olympic athletes and National Olympic Committees from around the world who took the time to help those less fortunate. Contributions, in the form of sports clothing, have been distributed to refugees around the world, providing them with the opportunity to play." Above and belowPresident Rogge and IOC member HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein donate items to the campaign 2008GIVINGIS WINNINGSUCCESS 10THANNIVERSARY OFOLYMPIC STUDIESCENTRE PROGRAMME 2009 is a special year for the Olympic Studies Centre ( OSC) as it will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the launch of its postgraduate research grant programme. Over the past decade, 337 young postgraduate students from 60 countries around the world have submitted research projects to the OSC Selection Committee on topics relating to Olympism, the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games. Of those 337 candidates, 49 were awarded grants to develop their projects using the OSC collections, which comprise the historical archives ( over a kilometre of files), the library ( 23,000 titles) and the image collection ( 40,000 hours of film, 7,000 hours of audio recordings and over 650,000 photographs). The resulting studies explore the Olympic phenomenon from a range of socio- cultural perspectives ( history, philosophy, media, economics, urban planning, sociology, religious and cultural studies, law, etc.), and are readily accessible to members of the Olympic Movement along with anyone else interested in Olympism. A substantial number of grant recipients have subsequently taken up university professorships and have continued to foster interest in Olympic studies among young students through classes, conferences, new research and publications. Since 2008 the OSC has identified priority fields of research for the programme in order to encourage young researchers to focus on subjects relating to OSC projects. The programme is thus helping to fulfil three of the OSC's key objectives: to add to the IOC's collection of cultural resources, to promote Olympic studies among postgraduate students and to address the specific research requirements of the OSC. To discover more information and further details about the OSC and the grant programme please follow the link http:// www. olympic. org/ studies 2016 GAMES 14OLYMPIC REVIEW

The IOC took decisions on three pending doping cases from the Beijing Games: Vadim Devyatovskiy, athletics ( men's hammer throw), from Belarus, was disquali-fied from second place, had his medal with-drawn and is perma-nently ineligible for all future Olympic Games. Ivan Tsikhan, Belarus, athletics ( men's hammer throw) was disqualified from third place and had his medal withdrawn. Adam Seroczynski, Poland, canoe ( kayak), was disqualified from the Kayak double ( K2) 1000m Men event, where he had placed fourth; The kayak dou-ble team ( K2), consisting of Adam Seroczynski and Mariusz Kujawski was also disqualified. In all, 4,770 doping tests were carried out in Beijing in the framework of the largest ever testing programme for an Olympic Games. The tests included 3,801 urine and 969 blood tests. Urine tests includ-ed 817 EPO tests, and blood tests covered 471 human Growth Hormone ( hGH) tests. As a general rule, all top five finishers, plus a further two, were tested. Last November, the IOC completed a week- long review of the Beijing 2008 Games to ensure that London and other Games Organising Committees benefit from the lessons learned in Beijing. The IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing 2008 Games examined all planning and operational aspects of the Beijing Games to highlight best practices, as well as the challenges that were encountered. President Jacques Rogge has made knowledge transfer a top priority during his tenure as IOC President. " The 2008 Games set new standards for organisation, venues and athletic performances, but we can always improve," Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli said. " I'm confident that the London organisers will host a first- class event with a uniquely British atmosphere." Bringing together around 900 participants, the IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing 2008 Games was attended by members of the Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Organising Committees ( OCOGs), as well as representatives of the 2016 Candidate Cities and other Games stakeholders and gave these future Games organisers the chance to learn from the experience and knowledge gained by their Beijing counter-parts during their seven years of preparation. Comprising two plenary sessions, eight stakeholder sessions and 18 functional area workshops, the event looked at the planning, operational and technical elements of organising an Olympic Games, such as sport, accommodation, transport, culture, education and logistics. The debriefing also addressed the various stakeholders' experience of groups at the Games like athletes, spectators, workforce and the media. The Beijing Debriefing is a key component of the IOC's Olympic Games Knowledge Management ( OGKM) programme, which consists of three main sources: services, personal experience and information. The services include workshops, seminars and a network of experts with Games experience on a range of Olympic topics that the OCOGs are able to call upon throughout their lifecycle. The OCOGs are also able to gain personal experience on Games preparations and operations through the Games-time observers' programme, the official Games Debriefing and a secondment programme, which allows staff members from future OCOGs to work on the current edition of the Olympic Games. The final element of OGKM is information, which includes elements like the Official Games Report, technical manuals, knowledge reports, a range of useful documents and publications and the IOC's visual transfer of knowledge of photos and films. All this information is available to the OCOGs through an extranet that is managed by the IOC. AbovePassing on knowledge and expertise of hosting the Olympic Games is an IOC priority TRANSFER OFKNOWLEDGE IOCMEETSEU COMMISSIONER INLAUSANNE Representatives of the Olympic Movement, led by IOC President Jacques Rogge met with Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth in Lausanne in January. The meeting came as a follow- up on the action points specified in the recent European Council Declaration on Sport, which was presented in the Conclusions of the French Presidency of the European Union ( EU) in mid- December 2008. In the Declaration, the heads of state call on the European Commission to strengthen its dialogue with the IOC, besides underlining the values of sport and its specific characteristics above its economic dimension. The promotion of the autonomy of the Olympic and Sports Movement as well as the protection of the integrity and fairness of the competitions has been high on the IOC's agenda over the years. Topics of discussions included: the specificity and autonomy of sport, the financing of sport and betting, the application of EU competition law and of free movement principles in the field of sport and the fight against doping. President Rogge said: " The EU benefits from sport and its values. Organised sport is one of the biggest social movements in society, and its social, educational and health-promoting role is significant. At the same time sports organisations also need the support of the EU to tackle challenges like doping, irregular betting, racism and violence and to safeguard the specificity of sports structures and sporting rules. It is vital that we work closer together to tap the full potential of sport." AboveJán Figel' and IOC President Rogge OLYMPIC REVIEW15 DOPING CASES