Olympic Highlights

IOC ACTIVITIES

PrEsident

On 6 September, the memorial commemorating the victims of the Munich 1972 attack was inaugurated. Family members from Israel and the family of the German police officer who all lost loved ones during the Olympic Games 1972, were present. “You are not alone today in your grief,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during the ceremony before his counterpart, the President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin.
IOC President Thomas Bach acknowledged: “I know that no ceremony and no memorial can fill the void left by those whose lives were taken so violently, but I hope that the memorial will be a symbol of our shared grief, a tool of education for the current and for future generations, and a demonstration of our determination to defend the Olympic values of peace and tolerance.”

IOC President Thomas Bach was in the Hungarian capital for the World Judo Championships. The President was greeted by International Judo Federation (IJF) President Marius Vizer and awarded medals at the mixed team event. The new format has mixed gender teams of six judokas and will make its Olympic debut at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Earlier, President Bach visited Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The two leaders discussed sports development in Hungary and other issues of mutual interest. President Bach congratulated the Hungarian Prime Minister on the recent excellent hosting of the Swimming World Championships and the Judo World Championships.

During the visit, the President also met IOC Member in Hungary Pál Schmitt and IOC Member and Athletes’ Commission member Daniel Gyurta, as well as IOC Honorary Member Tamás Aján.

In Lausanne, the IOC President met with IOC Members Ung Chang and Yelena Isinbaeva, with whom he discussed various Olympic-related topics.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the death of the father of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, the IOC President laid a wreath at Coubertin’s tomb at the Bois-de-Vaux cemetery in Lausanne. He was accompanied by the IOC Director General, Christophe De Kepper.

President Bach attended the graduation ceremony for MEMOS (Executive Master’s in Sports Organisations Management) students. This programme is supported by Olympic Solidarity.

MEMBERS

IOC Executive Board Member Ching-Kuo Wu represented the IOC at the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Universiade on 19 August in his home country, Chinese Taipei. At the ceremony, he congratulated the organisers, officials and all the volunteers for their remarkable efforts and warm welcome.

Nita Ambani, chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, has been presented with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Puruskar award for the Foundation’s contribution to the development and promotion of sport in India. She received the award from the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, during a ceremony in New Delhi on National Sports Day.

commissions

Following its ninth and final visit to PyeongChang (29-31 August), the Coordination Commission for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games left the Republic of Korea very confident that the city is prepared to welcome the world to the Games in 2018. “Over the course of our three-day evaluation visit, PyeongChang’s readiness to host the Olympic Winter Games 2018 was highlighted,” said IOC Coordination Commission Chair Gunilla Lindberg. “We saw first-hand the advances that have been made on venues and infrastructure, as well as heard updates on plans to further engage with Olympic fans. While details must continue to be refined in the coming months, it was evident that the Organising Committee is well on its way to delivering successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.” Read the full press release here.

Other Olympic news

Bringing fans and viewers closer to the Olympic Movement all year round, the Olympic Channel and beIN MEDIA GROUP announced a new partnership which begins on 4 September with programming blocks leading to the launch of a 24/7 linear channel on 1 November across 24 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) territories. Read the full press release here.

international sports federations

summer ifs

At the Hockey World League semi-finals in Johannesburg (South Africa), staff from the International Hockey Federation (FIH), including CEO Jason McCracken, spent time visiting two hockey projects, one in Johannesburg itself and the other in Randburg. The first project is run through a partnership involving the Southern Gauteng Hockey Association; the South Africa Hockey Association; the Gauteng Department of Sports, Art and Culture; the University of Johannesburg; and In-Touch, a coaching provider. In Johannesburg, more than 140 children were able to try their hand at hockey, practising with hockey balls and sticks and learning some basic techniques. Read the full story here.

At the 2017 Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Cairo (Egypt), the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) held a ceremony to recognise the sport's first group of UIPM level four elite coaches. The UIPM also launched its first coaching handbook, “Start Coaching Modern Pentathlon”. More info on www.pentathlon.org.

World Rugby reports that Ghana Rugby, with the support of the Ghana Olympic Committee and Olympic Solidarity, hosted a week-long series of rugby sevens courses at the Accra Sports Stadium in August to coincide with the first-ever coaches’ clinic in Ghana. The courses included level one rugby sevens coaching, match officiating and strength & conditioning courses. The coaches’ clinic included both classroom and practical sessions to understand the key performance indicators of a rugby coach and the assessment of players’ conditioning. More info on www.worldrugby.org.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has learned of the death of its Honorary President, Les McDonald, on 4 September in Vancouver (Canada), at 84 years of age. He served as the ITU’s President from its inception in 1989 until 2008, and he was largely credited with getting the sport of triathlon into the Olympic Games. He was awarded with the Olympic Order at the 122nd IOC Session, held during the Olympic Winter Games 2010 in the ITU’s hometown of Vancouver. That same year, he won the Continental IOC Women and Sport Award. In 2013, McDonald was honoured with the Order of Canada, and in 2014, in the ITU’s inaugural Hall of Fame, he was inducted with the Lifetime Achievement award. Read more here.

World Sailing's Sustainability Commission has taken the first steps to creating a “Sustainability Agenda 2030” following its first meeting in London (Great Britain) from 29 to 30 August. The meeting brought together the group of experts, chaired by Mike Golding, to discuss key issues relating to sustainability within sailing. World Sailing will present its “Sustainability Agenda 2030” to the World Sailing Council for adoption at the World Sailing Annual Conference in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) in November 2017. Read the full story here.

The Samoa Surfriders Association (SSA) has become the 103rd member association of the International Surfing Association (ISA). Samoa joins Iran, Sierra Leone, the Cook Islands and Norway as the newest countries to join the ISA. More info here. The ISA also announced that 37 surfers from 19 countries have been selected as beneficiaries of its 2017 scholarship programme. The programme, which was established in 2007, aims to provide financial support to surfers aged 18 or younger. To date, more than 300 scholarships have been awarded to young surfers across the five continents. Read the story here.

winter ifs

The annual International Ski Federation (FIS) Leaders’ Seminar was held at the end of August in Brussels (Belgium), with more than 45 participants from 24 nations. The main theme of the 2017 edition was “From Good to Excellent: COC to World Cup”. To open proceedings, FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis provided an update on FIS activities and looked ahead to the upcoming Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. More info here.

national olympic committees

From 31 August to 2 September, the NOC of Argentina organised a sports administration course for national federation presidents and administrative staff. During the event, an Olympic Solidarity workshop provided the participants with information about the available programmes for the 2017-2020 period. The course agenda also included information about the upcoming Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and a presentation by the National Anti-Doping Organisation. More info on www.coarg.org.ar.

The IOC Trophy was awarded on the occasion of the Hong Kong Athletes’ Career & Education Programme (HKACEP) and Sports Legacy Scheme (SLS) Appreciation Ceremony 2017, held on 5 September. Officiating guests at the ceremony included Timothy Tsun Ting Fok, President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC), Lau Kong Wah, Secretary for Home Affairs, other distinguished guests, athletes and media representatives. During the ceremony, Fok presented the “Sport beyond borders” IOC Trophy to MTR Corporation Limited (MTR). With the objective of facilitating athletes’ career transformation after their retirement from athletics, the HKACEP (under the auspices of SF&OC) and MTR have co-organised the “Life Skills Training Programme” since 2013. This programme aims to help athletes to go beyond the borders of sports fields and equip them with the skills to successfully move into mainstream employment. Read the full story here.

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) welcomed Yusra Mardini, who competed in the swimming competition at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 with the first ever Refugee Olympic Team, to the JOC Headquarters in Tokyo. Speaking alongside Yasuo Saito, the JOC Vice-President, Yusra, who is also the youngest ever Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), shared her memories of her home country Syria, her experience at the Games in Rio and her expectations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. More info on www.joc.or.jp.

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) has announced that Karo Lelai, the Chair of its Athletes’ Commission, is the new Chair of the Athletes’ Commission of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC). She was elected at the inaugural meeting of the new ONOC Athletes’ Commission on 26 August in Nadi (Fiji). Lelai is also an Executive Committee member of the PNGOC and of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). She takes over from Barbara Kendall of New Zealand, who chaired the ONOC Athletes’ Commission for over 10 years.

For its third and final training course of the year, the Venezuelan Beach Tennis League organised a level one coaches course from 31 August to 3 September at the Venezuelan NOC headquarters. The course included a theoretical and a practical part, as well as three special training programmes. The course took place with the support of the Venezuelan NOC and the Venezuelan Tennis Federation, which sent 10 speakers to the event to share their experiences in this area. In total, 24 people from various states attended the course and received certificates for taking part. More info here.

recognised organisations

The Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) has launched a new logo and brand style designed to reflect the globality and dynamism of the organisation. The new logo was commissioned following the unanimous decision of members at the General Assembly in Aarhus (Denmark) to change the name of the organisation to the Global Association of International Sports Federations. More info here.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will feature 4,400 athletes who will compete in 537 medal events the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced. The final medal event programme and athlete quotas were approved by the IPC Governing Board on 4 September following the conclusion of a 10-month-long consultation exercise with international federations. Read the full press release here.

The President of the Pan-American Sports Organisation (PASO), Neven Ilic, and the PASO Secretary General, Ivar Sisniega, visited the Sport for Hope Centre in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), at the invitation of the IOC, to determine the future of the Centre and discuss potential ways to continue supporting athletes in the country. During the visit, they met with representatives from the Haitian government and sports authorities. IOC Executive Board Member Willi Kaltschmitt Luján and IOC Member Gerardo Werthein, who is also President of the Sport for Hope Foundation, were part of the PASO delegation, along with the Haitian NOC President, Hans Larsen, and Secretary General, Alain Jean Pierre. The programme included a visit to the Centre’s facilities and meetings with athletes.