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OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK

IOC gets some advice from bidders

Organizers for the Sochi Games spent lavishly but not all countries are eager to do so.David J. Phillip/AP file photo

What do bid cities need from the International Olympic Committee? More support in bidding. More certainty in process. More partnership in risk. And more flexibility in scale. That’s the joint recommendation from the German, Swedish, Swiss, and Austrian national committees in “The Bid Experience,” their recent report that they hope will help shape a more realistic process for 2022 and beyond.

Each of those countries had would-be hosts (Munich, Stockholm, St. Moritz/Davos, Vienna) decide against going forward because of lukewarm public support. Munich, the runner-up to Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Games, likely would have been a shoo-in for 2022 but wasn’t interested. Why spend $34 million (the average 2018 cost, nearly quadruple what it was for 2010) chasing Games that may be awarded to the city with the worst technical ranking, as was the case for Sochi this year and Rio de Janeiro for 2016?

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The report suggests a number of common-sense changes that likely would increase the number of candidate cities, ranging from more and earlier information from the IOC to more transparency about costs to an emphasis on using existing venues to setting the number of sports, events, and athletes when the bidding starts. Without a substantial overhaul of the process, which the IOC will consider at its special December meeting, few cities outside of totalitarian countries are going to have the appetite for writing blank checks.

Tokyo, which last year won the right to host the 2020 Summer Games with a compact venue concept, already is considering using some facilities that are an hour’s drive from the city in order to reduce costs.

“Expenses can be 30, 40, 50 times more than the original plan,” Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe said. “How can I persuade the taxpayers to pay this kind of money?”

Swimmer still buoyant

Michael Phelps took the long view in the wake of his 0-for-4 at the recent US Swimming Championships in Irvine, Calif. “I’d rather lose all the national championships that I swim in as long as I’m ready for the big races,” the 22-time Olympic medalist said after he’d been beaten in the 100-meter butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, and 200 individual medley. Phelps, who took an 18-month sabbatical after the London Games, accomplished his main goal, which was to qualify for the team for this week’s Pan Pacific meet in Australia that will determine the squad for next year’s World Championships in Russia. So did archrival Ryan Lochte, who’d been rehabbing his torn-up left knee following what his publicist called “a freak injury caused by an unexpected fan encounter” last November, and fellow individual gold medalists Missy Franklin, Katie Ledecky, Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers, and Tyler Clary. Missing out was Allison Schmitt, who failed to reach the final in all three of her freestyle events. Ledecky, who’s entering her senior year of high school and is headed for Stanford, had a monster meet, beating Franklin in the 200 free, setting a world record (3:58.86) in the 400 free, and winning the 800 free by more than six seconds. Had she opted to, Ledecky likely would have left everyone in her backwash in the 1,500 free as well. The Americans, who’ve topped the table at the previous 11 Pan Pacs and crushed Australia last time, are heavy favorites to make it a dozen.

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Sailing along

Polluted waters aside, the first test event for the Rio Games, a sailing regatta in Guanabara Bay for more than 325 entrants from three dozen countries, came off well, although the international federation was concerned about the flotsam of dead animals and debris. There was ample wind with enough direction changes to make things challenging and to convince competitors that they should spend as much time as possible practicing at the Olympic site. That’s what the Americans, who’ve established a training center there, plan to do. Next important competition on the international calendar is next month’s World Championships in Santander on Spain’s northern coast, where half of the spots for the Games will be allotted. The Rio organizers have plenty of time to prepare for the next sailing dress rehearsal, which will be held next August along with test events in rowing, road cycling, race walking, open-water swimming, golf, and equestrian events . . . The withdrawal of Kevin Durant from the USA men’s basketball team — he cited “physical and mental fatigue” — leaves Anthony Davis and James Harden as the only Olympic gold medalists from the 2012 team on the roster for the World Cup that begins at the end of the month in Spain. “You don’t replace Kevin Durant,” said coach Mike Krzyzewski, who pronounced himself surprised by Durant’s opting out. “You look different.” The Americans, who cruised past Brazil by a 95-78 count last weekend in Chicago, will face the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in Madison Square Garden tuneups Wednesday and Friday before heading overseas, where they’ll take on Slovenia in Gran Canaria next week before opening their title defense against Finland Aug. 30. The team’s scheduled clinic in Senegal was scrubbed because of the Ebola virus raging in West Africa. “Any risk, however small, is one we cannot take,” said USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo. While the Senegalese will be playing in the Cup, they wouldn’t meet the Americans before the finals.

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Going for an encore

World all-around champion Simone Biles will be looking to become the seventh woman in 15 years to retain her title at next weekend’s US Gymnastics Championships in Pittsburgh. Her main challengers will be Kyla Ross, who was runner-up at last year’s global meet, and fellow team member Brenna Dowell. The six repeaters were Kristen Maloney (1999), Tasha Schwikert (2002), Courtney Kupets (2004), Nastia Liukin (2006), Shawn Johnson (2008), and Jordyn Wieber (2012) . . . Fifteen 2012 Olympians, seven of them medalists, made the US team for next week’s World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, where the women’s eight — with London champions Elle Logan, Caroline Lind, and Meghan Musnicki aboard — will be favored to win its seventh straight title. Also qualifying were three members of the men’s four that won bronze (Henrik Rummel, Glenn Ochal, and Charlie Cole), with Ochal and Cole racing in the pair, plus quad medalist Megan Kalmoe, who’ll be in the pair this time. Newton native Gevvie Stone will be the women’s sculler . . . Kenenisa Bekele, a three-time Olympic champion on the track, will make his World Marathon Majors debut in October in Chicago, where’ll he be bidding to become only the second Ethiopian (after Tsegaye Kebede in 2012) to win the men’s title. Bekele made an impressive splash in his first 26-miler in April, winning Paris in a course record of 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 3 seconds.

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Skating moves

As expected, the International Skating Union essentially spun in a circle at its Dublin congress, retaining judging anonymity, maintaining the length of free programs, and keeping its age limit for office-holders at 75, which means that president Ottavio Cinquanta, who has been in office for two decades, will have to step down in 2016. The most significant changes came in speedskating, which will use mass starts at the 2018 Games and cut the 500 meters from two races to one . . . The recent inductees for the Basketball Hall of Fame include two Olympic gold medalists. Mitch Richmond, who won a bronze in 1988 as a member of the final US amateur squad, played for the 1996 champions. And Sarunas Marciulionis, who earned his gold with the final Soviet Union team in 1988, collected bronzes with his fellow Lithuanians in 1992 and 1996. Three of the inductees for the US Hockey Hall of Fame also have Olympic connections. Karyn Bye Dietz won gold and silver with the women’s team in 1998 and 2002, Bryan Rafalski played on three men’s teams and took home silvers in 2002 and 2010. And Lou Vairo, who coached the 1984 men’s team, was an assistant on the 2002 squad.

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John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com; material from Olympic committees, sports federations, interviews and wire services was used in this report.