IOC Athletes’ Commission to bring together more than 400 athlete representatives for the 11th International Athletes’ Forum
At the invitation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission (AC), more than 400 athlete representatives will come together for the 11th edition of the International Athletes’ Forum (IAF), which will be held on 1 and 2 October in Lausanne, Switzerland. They will address the most important issues faced by athletes, share best practices and discuss how to reinforce the global network of Athletes’ Commissions.
The IAF will be hosted by the IOC AC and its Chair, Emma Terho, and moderated by British Olympian Jeanette Kwakye. Representatives from each of the National Olympic Committee and International Federation ACs are invited, as are representatives from the ACs of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Paralympic Committee and the World Olympians Association, and members of the IOC Athletes’ Entourage Commission.
The plenary sessions will be live streamed online on the IOC Media YouTube channel in English, with simultaneous interpretation in French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, allowing athlete representatives unable to attend the event and other stakeholders to follow remotely.
What to expect at the 2023 IAF
The Forum combines panel discussions, breakout sessions and workshops to empower and encourage the global athlete community and give representatives the tools they need to strengthen their own ACs. Topics for the plenary discussions will include how athletes can give back to causes they care about, the different types of IOC support available for athletes through the athlete lifecycle, clean sport, integrity and much more. The Forum is set to conclude with a Q&A session with IOC President Thomas Bach.
There will also be opportunities to network and share best practices, and a marketplace area with booths run by WADA, Paris 2024, Milano Cortina 2026, LA28 and other stakeholders from the Olympic Movement.
The full programme will be published soon on Athlete365.
A forum for debate and collaboration
First organised in 2002, the IAF is a biennial event and the largest gathering of athlete representatives. It provides an opportunity for Athletes’ Commission members from all countries and sports to come together to discuss the issues that are most important to athletes. The 2023 edition will bring the global network of athlete representatives together in person for the first time since 2019, with the most recent IAF taking place virtually in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, an online Athlete Town Hall – a first-of-its-kind event – was organised by the IOC Athletes’ Commission for Olympians who competed at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Participants discussed their experiences and celebrated their achievements at those Games, and put their questions to IOC President Thomas Bach in an exclusive Q&A session.