OLYMPIC HIGHLIGHTS 08/03/2019
IOC ACTIVITIES
President
IOC President met a delegation from the Ghanaian NOC led by its President, Ben Nunoo Mensah. The meeting focused on various Olympic Solidarity programmes and the Ghanaian athletes’ preparations ahead of their participation in the Olympic Games.
President Bach also met Issada Ike, the President of the Niger NOC. They discussed the situation of sport in the country and other topics of mutual interest.
With Francesco Ricci Bitti, President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), discussions focused on various topical Olympic matters and good governance in the IFs.
At The Olympic Museum, President Bach welcomed the new CEO of Adidas, Kasper Rorsted, with whom he discussed, among other things, Adidas’ participation in the NOC Uniform Support Programme for the Olympic Games.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Chair of the Yunus Centre, spoke with the President about the Athlete365 Business Accelerator programme.
The IOC President and Minky Worden, the Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, discussed the cooperation between the two organisations on several topics related to human rights and gender equality.
The President addressed a wide range of topics regarding the protection of clean athletes with Craig Reedie, IOC Member and President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Various Olympic programme topics were discussed by the President and Franco Carraro, IOC Member and Chair of the IOC Olympic Programme Commission.
President Bach met IOC Member Octavian Morariu, also Chair of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2026.
A meeting was also held with IOC Executive Board member Ser Miang Ng.
The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage was attended by President Bach and the IOC Honorary President, Jacques Rogge.
The President also welcomed Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was accompanied by Veronika Rücker, CEO of the German NOC and Michael Mronz, the General Manager of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, which organises the CHIO Aachen equestrian festival in Germany. They made a tour through The Olympic Museum. Laschet and Mronz expressed an initial interest in North Rhine-Westphalia to initiate a candidature for the Olympic Games 2032.
President Bach held a dinner for the members of the IOC’s Olympic Programme Commission.
Commissions
The Olympic Programme Commission met on 8 March. The meeting was chaired by IOC Member Franco Carraro. The main topic on the agenda was the programme for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Other Olympic news
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the IOC is joining the worldwide debate to achieve greater gender balance on and off the field of play. The IOC is celebrating the impetus and spotlight that the Olympic Games and sport globally offer to advancing gender equality and portraying inspirational women and girls in sport. Over the last 30 years, the IOC has made significant progress towards the goal of gender equality in sport, with the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 reaffirming its aim of achieving not only equality in terms of the athletes competing at the Games, but also in seeing more women appointed to leadership roles across the Olympic Movement. Full news release here.
Agreements have been signed in the Republic of Korea to reuse two venues that were used during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Originally designed for temporary use during the Games, the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) will now be remodelled into a national archive for the National Library of Korea and the PyeongChang 2018 Organizing Committee headquarters will be used as a winter sports training centre under the management of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC). Full news release here.
international federations
summer ifs
Australia will host a World Athletics Series event for the first time in 25 years, following the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council’s decision to award the 2021 World Cross Country Championships to Bathurst in New South Wales. The event will be held on 20 March at Mount Panorama, home of the renowned Bathurst 1000 endurance motor race. More info here.
A meeting of the International Swimming Federation (FINA)’s Technical Committee was held concurrently with the first stage of the Artistic Swimming World Series from 1 to 3 March 2019 in Paris (France). The Committee, chaired by Lisa Schott, is made up of some of the world’s leading experts in artistic swimming. The meeting’s agenda included looking at developing computer software designed to analyse movements and standardise the way difficulties are judged. The execution and synchronised impression will both remain subject to the judges’ expertise. More info here.
On the eve of International Women’s Day, World Rugby has renewed its commitment to driving inspirational leadership and fast-tracking the development of women in rugby on and off the pitch through its successful Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship programme. With more than 100 applications received globally, this year the highly sought-after World Rugby Executive Leadership Scholarships have been awarded to 14 women from different unions, an increase on the 10 who were awarded scholarships in 2018. Full details here.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced four appointments to the independent ITF Ethics Commission, established by the ITF Board in November 2018. Jack Anderson (Oceania), Brian Havill (Europe), David Howman (Oceania) and Urvasi Naidoo (Europe/Africa) have been appointed by the Chair of the Commission, Sandra Osborne, who took up the role on 1 December 2018. More info here.
The Sports Department of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) recently released a completely new version of the Events Organiser's Manual (EOM). With 60 more pages added to the previous version, and more than 200 changes and additions, this document is an invaluable tool for triathlon event organisers. More info on www.triathlon.org.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has awarded the hosting rights of the U-18 Baseball World Cup 2021 to USA Baseball and the cities of Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida. This marks the first time since Cape Cod and Fenway Park hosted the 1995 Junior World Championship that the top youth international baseball event will be held in the United States. More info here.
national olympic committees
The Albanian NOC completed a training seminar on the "role and importance of Human Resources in sport", held on 1 March under the direction of Tracy Taylor, a professor in sports management at Sydney University, Australia, and a lecturer on the IOC’s Master’s programme, MEMOS (Executive Master of Management of Sports Organisations). There were 35 participants from the Albanian Sports Federation, the ASMC (Advanced Course of Sports Management) and the one-year COMPAS course, and also from sports clubs and various sports associations. During the seminar, volunteering in sport was highlighted as an important aspect, as was the professionalism of those who work in and lead sports organisations. More info at www.nocalbania.org.al.
From 7 to 9 March in Buenos Aires, the Argentine NOC organised its first sports administration course of the year. A total of 60 people took part, including representatives from national sports federations and government sports bodies, coaches, and physical education professionals. In addition to sports organisation management and administration, the topics addressed during the three-day course included the history and structure of the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games. More info at www.coarg.org.ar.
A regional seminar on “Digital Communication and Media” was held in Baku at the initiative of the NOC of Azerbaijan, with the support of Olympic Solidarity. Around 20 communications specialists from 11 European and Asian NOCs (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine) took part. The aim of the seminar was to study ways to promote the activities and projects implemented by NOCs on social media platforms, and to study innovative approaches to develop an appropriate strategy for each platform. More info on www.noc-aze.org.
Shaikha Hayat bint Abdul Aziz Al Khalifa (see photo), a board member of the Bahrain NOC, has been elected Chair of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)’s Women’s Sports Committee. The winner of the IOC Women and Sport Award for Asia in 2015, she is currently a member of the Athletes’ Entourage Commission and Chair of the Bahrain Women’s Sport Committee.
In addition, representatives of national sports clubs and associations attended a post-graduate sports management course, organised by the Bahrain Olympic Academy in cooperation with Olympic Solidarity. The subjects discussed included the management of various sports and Olympic-related organisations. More info on www.boc.bh.
The University of San Buenaventura in Cartagena recently hosted an Olympic studies symposium. Over 150 people, including physical education and psychology students and professionals from various sectors, were in attendance. The event was chaired by Baltazar Medina, President of the Colombian NOC, who highlighted in his speech the responsibility of sports stakeholders in reinforcing the Olympic values and the importance of transparency, good governance and fair play. More info here
At a ceremony held at the headquarters of the Spanish NOC, Marisol Casado, IOC Member and President of the International Triathlon Union, presented Lydia Valentín with her weightlifting gold medal (-75kg category) from the Olympic Games London 2012. She was awarded the medal after the gold medallist was disqualified for failing doping tests. Also in attendance were NOC President Alejandro Blanco; the Secretary of State for Sport, María José Rienda; the President of the International Weightlifting Federation and IOC Honorary Member Tamás Aján; and the President of the Spanish Weightlifting Federation, Constantino Iglesias. More info here. In addition, on 27 February, the Spanish NOC President and his counterpart from the Libyan NOC, Jamal Ezarrugh, signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of their two organisations. Among other things, the agreement covers the organisation of competitions in the two countries and the implementation of a training programme aimed at athletes, coaches and leaders. More info here.
In cooperation with the Moroccan NOC, the Royal Archery Federation of Morocco organised a course for 10 national and international trainers at the Moulay Rachid National Sports Centre. Held in February under the auspices of Olympic Solidarity, the course is part of a refresher programme for trainers with a view to developing archery in Morocco. More info here.
Naiguatá Beach in Vargas State was the first port of call this year for the environmental protection, awareness and recycling day which is organised each year by the Venezuelan NOC during the carnival celebrations. More than 50 people took part in the event, which saw them collect waste and clean up the beach. The NOC staff in attendance explained the meaning of the three Rs, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. This initiative will continue throughout the country. More info here.
Recognised organisations
In celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has honoured Paralympic field athlete Deepa Malik (photo) for her efforts and achievements in inspiring women in the Paralympic Movement. Malik – India’s first female athlete to win a Paralympic medal – received the 2019 International Women’s Day Recognition. The annual honour is distributed to someone who embodies the spirit of the Paralympics and serves as a role model within the Movement for all females, from athletes to technical officials and committee leaders. The decision to grant Malik the Recognition was made by the IPC’s Women in Sport Committee. Full details here.