Olympic Highlights

IOC ACTIVITIES

PrEsident

The President of the International Cycling Union (UCI), Brian Cookson, spoke with the IOC President about the cycling event programme at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. They also talked about the leading role of the UCI to make the fight against doping independent from sports organisations. The creation of a joint working group with regard to the building up of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA), benefiting from their experience and looking for ways to closely cooperate was also discussed.

The IOC President has met the President of the World Rowing Federation (FISA), Jean-Christophe Rolland. They discussed the Olympic programme and the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 for International Federations.

President Bach met the new President of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), Sarah Keane and the members of the OCI Executive Board. He congratulated her on her election and talked about cooperation to address the difficult situation OCI is facing.

Czech NOC President Jiri Kejval visited the IOC President and talked about the NOC’s current situation and the role of sport in society.

With the President of the Dominican NOC, Luis Mejia Oviedo, topics related to the development in the Pan-American Sports Organisation (PASO) and the Olympic Games were discussed.

The IOC President met the President of the Oman Olympic Committee, Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Zubair. They discussed a range of sporting issues.

President Bach and Neven Ivan Ilic, President of the Pan-American Sports Organisation (PASO) and also President of the Chilean NOC, talked about the excellent cooperation between their two organisations. The preparations for the forthcoming Pan-American Games in Lima in 2019 were also discussed.

At a meeting with the President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), Francesco Ricci Bitti, the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and in particular the programme of the Games, the WADA anti-doping reforms and IF governance were discussed.

The IOC President and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President and IOC Member Craig Reedie discussed the latest developments concerning the WADA reforms and the creation of the new ITA.

Meetings were held with IOC Members Pál Schmitt, Robin Mitchell, Nicole Hoevertsz, Camiel Eurlings and Mamadou Ndiaye.

IOC President Thomas Bach hosted Fleur Pellerin, Grand Témoin de la Francophonie for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. They discussed the social role of sport and the preparations for these Games, in particular the operations concerning language services offered to the French-speaking athletes, officials, journalists and members of the general public.

The President hosted Gordon Tang, President of the Windsurfing Association of Singapore who is making a second donation to The Olympic Museum. A new donor’s stone was unveiled on the Olympic Museum’s donors’ wall on behalf of his family and on behalf of his father’s Foundation who was a weightlifting athlete. During the ceremony, the IOC President underlined that “without the generosity of donors like Mr Tang, The Olympic Museum could not be what it is today”. IOC Executive Board Member Ser Miang Ng was also present.

The President met Martin Sorrell, the founder and CEO of WPP, the world’s biggest advertising and marketing services group. They discussed sponsorship, the Olympic Channel and developments in the digital world.

A meeting was held with William Lewis, CEO of the Dow Jones Group and Publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

members

Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant was re-elected as President of the Belgian NOC at the NOC’s Elective General Assembly on 2 June in Brussels. This is his fourth term of office.

Yang Yang has been chosen to chair the new Athletes’ Commission of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Winter Games 2022 in Beijing. The announcement was made during a visit by the IOC Coordination Commission for these Games.

HONORARY members

It is with great sadness that the IOC has learnt of the death of Hein Verbruggen, IOC Honorary Member in the Netherlands, at the age of 75. A cycling fanatic and a true sports fan, Hein Verbruggen was President of the International Cycling Union (UCI) from 1991 to 2005. He also headed the SportAccord Convention from 2003 to 2013. He joined the IOC in 1996 and became an Honorary Member in 2008. He headed the Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Games 2008 and became Chairman of the Coordination Commission for Olympic Games Beijing 2008. He was also a member, as a representative of an International Federation, of the Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Games 2004 and consequently sat on the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Games Athens 2004. Throughout his career at the IOC, he was a member of the following Commissions: Marketing, “IOC 2000”, Olympic Truce and IOC 2000 Reform Follow-up, and was also Chair of the Board of Directors of Olympic Broadcasting Services S.A. (Switzerland). Read the full news story here.

Commissions

Former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been proposed as the new Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission by the IOC Executive Board. This proposal will now be put for vote to the full membership at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru, in September. Under the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, the Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission and all of its members are elected by the full IOC membership at the IOC Session. If approved, Ban Ki-moon will replace the current Chair of the Ethics Commission, Youssoupha Ndiaye (former President of the Constitutional Court of Senegal), who is standing down at the end of this IOC Session. Ban Ki-moon was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, from January 2007 to December 2016. When he took office, he committed the UN to the highest standards of ethics, integrity, accountability and transparency. Ban is a strong proponent of enhancing the role of sport to address global challenges. He oversaw the inclusion of “sport as an important enabler” in the Sustainable Development Goals, part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Read the full news story here.

During its second visit to the People’s Republic of China (12-13 June) to review the preparations for the Olympic Winter Games 2022, the Coordination Commission was pleased to see advancements made to Beijing’s sustainability and legacy plans. As Commission Chair Alexander Zhukov put it: “Since our last visit, the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee has made good progress in its preparations for sustainable Olympic Winter Games that will benefit the city, region and country for decades to come.” The Commission visited four sites in Beijing: the new National Speed Skating Oval, the Capital Indoor Stadium, Wukesong Sports Centre and the Shougang Industry Park. The involvement of athletes in the preparations of the Games was very clear during the venue tour, with Olympic medallists Wang Beixing and Li Nina being joined by former Chinese national champion figure skater Yao Jia to present the venues (press release here). All three athletes are currently working in Beijing 2022’s Sports Department. Read the full press release here.

The Finance Commission, chaired by IOC Executive Board Member Ser Miang Ng, met in Lausanne, as did the Audit Committee chaired by IOC Member Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant.

TOP Partners

The IOC and Worldwide TOP Partner Panasonic announced a new partnership agreement for the Young Change-Makers+ programme (YCM+). Panasonic becomes the first Worldwide TOP partner to provide additional support to YCM+ programme pledging its commitment to supporting the next generation of young sport leaders around the world. The YCM+ programme engages and develops inspirational young people that have participated at the Youth Olympic Games as Young Change-Makers (formally Young Ambassadors) by providing funding for their grass roots sport projects in their communities back home. Read the full news story here.

The IOC and McDonald's have announced that they have mutually agreed to bring their Worldwide TOP Partnership to an end. McDonald’s Worldwide TOP Partnership will end with immediate effect, however McDonald’s will continue to be a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with domestic marketing rights in the Republic of Korea only. The company will deliver its Games-time operations, including restaurants in the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village. The IOC has no immediate plans to appoint a direct replacement in the retail food operations sponsorship category, and will review the category in the broader context of existing Olympic marketing programmes. Read the full news story here.

Other Olympic news

On 16 June, the IOC, the United States Olympic Committee, and NBCUniversal announced that the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will launch in one month -- on Saturday, July 15 -- in more than 35 million homes, allowing Olympic fans to connect to Olympic Sports, athletes, and stories all year round. The new linear cable channel will be available to most subscribers of Altice, AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, Spectrum, and Verizon at launch. The linear channel will also be also be available at launch on streaming services, including DirecTV Now, Fubo, Hulu, Sony PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV. Read the full news story here.

Handling reports or suspicions of competition manipulation within sports organisations was the focus of a training session jointly organised by the IOC and INTERPOL in Copenhagen (Denmark). The three-day (12-14 June) event addressed the need for an effective, coordinated response from the sports world to counter the threat of competition manipulation and related corruption. During the training session, 13 participants from NOCs and leading sports federations from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were put before an unfolding scenario, opening with an allegation of competition manipulation. The training also offered an in-depth look at the regulatory basis for fact-finding inquiries, which includes inquiry planning, information gathering and sharing, risk management, interviewing methods, stakeholder collaboration and coordination, and cooperation between sports disciplinary and criminal investigatory proceedings. Read the full news story here.

Supported by the IOC and the FC Barcelona Foundation, the 5th edition of the OlympAfrica FutbolNet Cup is currently taking place in the 41 community centres that the OlympAfrica Foundation runs across Africa. Jointly run by the IOC, the FC Barcelona Foundation (FFCB) and the OlympAfrica Foundation, this programme allows close to 85,000 children between 12 and 15 years old to compete in football tournaments, where girls and boys play together to win matches not only by scoring goals, but also by applying the values of sport such as respect, team-building and fair play during the game. This double measure ensures that these young players truly embody the Olympic values and become ambassadors of the sporting movement within their communities. In the framework of this programme, the NOC of Zambia and its Olympafrica centre in Lusaka hosted a regional tournament from 10-11 June, which brought together children from the OlympAfrica centres of Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Read the full news story here.

international sportS fEdErations

summer ifs

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced that teams will be taking part in a brand-new global international team-sport league: the Hockey Pro League. The new league, which is due to launch in January 2019, will see the nine best men’s and women’s teams from around the world play each other both at home and away every year, across a total of 144 one-off matches. The fixtures will take place in national stadiums every week from January to June. Find out more here.

As part of United World Wrestling (UWW)’s efforts to assist its national federations with good governance and development, the Ukrainian wrestling federation hosted a national management seminar on 5 and 6 June in Zhytomyr. The aim was to enhance organisational capabilities. In addition, UWW Regional Development Officer Andrey Vorontsov held an Anti-Doping Seminar for 50 athletes and national team coaches to promote clean sport and fair play on 7 June. Find out more here.

On 7 June, the Bureau of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) approved the membership application of the Bhutan Swimming Federation, of which Namgyal Wangchuk is the President, and Tshering Zangmo the Interim Secretary General. FINA now has 208 member national federations. Details on www.fina.org.

World Rugby has announced that the teams taking part in the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia have joined forces to show their solidarity with the United Nations in support of its #HeForShe campaign aimed at tackling gender inequality in society. This act of solidarity reaffirms the rugby family’s alignment with the core principles of the programme. UN Women already has a strong partnership with the Georgia Rugby Union. As well as support for the #HeForShe campaign, a comprehensive programme of legacy activities is taking place at the tournament, involving participating teams taking part in positive environmental actions and visiting children affected by conflict. Read more here.

Winter Ifs

The International Ski Federation (FIS) and Alisports have announced a new cooperation agreement at the Multifunction Studio of the Alibaba Sports Group, which will see an initial push to activate 30 million Chinese snow sports participants. With an ambitious target of raising the number of winter sports participants by the time of the Olympic Winter and Paralympic Games Beijing 2022 across China from the current 15 million to 300 million, the FIS has looked to foster positive local partnerships, notably with Beijing Sports University and the Chinese Ski Association, which will also be at the forefront of this unique opportunity. The agreement will see a number of partners collaborating to develop a robust grass roots “Get into Snow Sports – China” development programme and campaign. Find out more here.

nationaL olympiC COMMITTEes

In Albania, the March-April-May 2017 period marked the development of the “Olympic education in the school” project, with Olympic Week and Olympic Day 2017 organised throughout the country. Olympic Week was organised in 13 Regional Education Directorates, in 312 schools, while Olympic Day was organised in 20 cities, with participation from 250 schools and more than 5,000 students. Approximately 9,000 pupils and 1,300 teachers took part in the various activities held across the country and placed under themes such as fair play, respect for environment, gender equality, inclusion etc. On 13 June, the Albanian NOC held a thank-you ceremony with the 2017 Olympic Day partners who contributed to the organisation of the sports activities. Those in attendance included representatives from the Ministry of Education and Sports, heads of the Regional Educational Directorates and Educational Offices in the country, organisers, teachers and representatives from the Sports Federations. More info on www.nocalbania.org.al.

The second season of the “Olympic Moves” programme in Azerbaijan had culminated on 5 June with a great closing ceremony that took place at Sarhadchi Sports Olympic Centre. “Olympic Moves Azerbaijan 2017” had been carried out by the NOC of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Worldwide Olympic Partner Coca-Cola together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan. The overall goal of the programme was promoting active and healthy lifestyle as well as Olympic values among school children who competed at five different sports. More than 100,000 children from about 400 schools took part. The implementation of the programme was supported by respective national Sport Federations. The programme started with school competitions, followed by region competitions and culminated with country championship and sport festival. Were present at the closing ceremony, the NOC Vice-President Chingiz Huseynzade, Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Azad Rahimov and Coca Cola’s Regional President Erdinc Guzel. Info on www.noc-aze.org.

An integral part of the Team Brazil Training Centre, the Olympic Laboratory has been installed at the Maria Lenk Water Park, in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park. Equipped with a series of latest-generation equipment, the laboratory of the Brazil Olympic Committee (COB) is already available to the main athletes of the country and their respective national federations. COB’s objective is to use the laboratory to help improve the performance of Brazilian Olympic athletes by providing scientific support to the Olympic disciplines and using sports research and development. The Laboratory has been made possible by a partnership with nine Brazilian teaching and research institutions, and funds from the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) connected to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Details on www.cob.org.br.

The cooperation agreement between the Spanish NOC and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation was extended on 13 June. The aim of this agreement is to continue developing the “Todos Olímpicos” Olympic values promotional campaign in the educational establishments of the Autonomous Community of Valencia. NOC President Alejandro Blanco and the Foundation Director signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the NOC headquarters in Madrid. Read the story here.

The first meeting of women sport executives entitled "Women in Action" was held with success at the premises of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC). The Chairperson of the HOC “Women and Sport” Commission, Xenia Argeitaki invited all women involved in sport to express their views and personal experience in order to enhance the position of women in sport. The event was attended by Olympic medallists, champions, members of the Sports Federations, the HOC President, Spyros Capralos and the Secretary General, Manolis Kolympadis. Info at www.hoc.gr

The Japanese NOC (JOC) held its Sports Award Ceremony for 2016 and Olympic Concert 2017 during the Tokyo International Forum on 9 June, ahead of its Olympic Day celebrations. The Most Valuable Athlete Award went to Kaori Icho, Olympic freestyle wrestling champion at the 2016 Games in Rio and the first ever female Olympian to win four consecutive titles in the same discipline. The Merit Award went to six athletes hoping to take part in the Winter Games in PyeongChang next year, including Ikuma Horishima, double gold medallist at the 2017 Freestyle Ski World Championships, and Nao Kodaira, 2017 world sprint speed skating champion. JOC Council members, JOC Executive Committee members, JOC Honorary Members and Tokyo 2020 sponsors were also present. Details on www.joc.or.jp

The Turkish Olympic Committee (TOC) has appointed the Rio 2016 Olympic and two-time world champion wrestler, Taha Akgül (see photo), as the new Chair of its Athletes’ Commission. Akgül, 26, who competes in the 125kg category, will now also serve as a TOC Executive Board member during his four-year term from 2017 to 2021. The TOC’s Athletes’ Commission is a body of 70 current athletes (35 male and 35 female) who have been nominated by their respective National Federations. Info on www.olimpiyat.org.tr.

During his trip to Nicaragua, Venezuelan NOC President Eduardo Álvarez (right of photo) signed a cooperation agreement with his Nicaraguan counterpart, Emmett Lang (left of photo). This agreement mainly concerns the development and training of coaches and athletes from the two countries.

Organising Committees for the Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has signed a partnership agreement with the Nippon Foundation, a private non-profit humanitarian organisation that supports activities in social welfare, public health and educational fields. The agreement will allow Tokyo 2020 to leverage the Nippon Foundation’s experience of managing volunteers when developing selected training programmes for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The Nippon Foundation will provide support to Tokyo 2020 in a number of areas, including the development of a volunteer leaders’ training programme and the training of those who will conduct volunteer recruitment interviews. The two organisations will also collaborate in the organisation of events and activities aimed at building momentum in the Tokyo 2020 volunteer programme. More info on www.tokyo2020.jp.

RECOGNISED Organisations

Athletes from various Paralympic sports all over the world gathered together for the first-ever International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletes’ Forum, which was held from 8 to 11 June in Duisburg (Germany). More than 80 athletes from around 22 IFs, 35 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) as well as representatives from the WADA Athlete Committee and the IOC Athletes’ Commission had the opportunity to interact directly with each other, as well with IPC representatives on various topics relating to the Paralympic Movement. Read the full story here.