Olympic Highlights

IOC ACTIVITIES

PRESIDENT

The leading representatives of the Olympic Movement met in Lausanne on 28 October for the 6th Olympic Summit. They discussed a number of topics which are important to the future of the Olympic Movement. The main areas under discussion were the following:  Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018; Protection of clean athletes (Targeted Pre-Games testing, Schmid/Oswald Commissions, Founding of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA); The development of eGames/eSports; Athletes' representation. Read the full communique here.

The IOC President, Thomas Bach, attended the flame-lighting ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 in Ancient Olympia (Greece). In his speech, the President reiterated that the Olympic Games have the power to bring the entire world together, highlighting the participation in the ceremony of representatives from the NOCs of the next Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games. Those in attendance included Tsunekazu Takeda (Japan), Yu Zaiqing (People’s Republic of China), Denis Masseglia (France) and Lawrence F. Probst III (United States). They were joined by Lee Hee-beom, the President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 (POCOG); Lee- Kee-heung, the President of the Korean Olympic Committee; and Spyros Capralos, the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

The ceremony was given special significance by the attendance of the President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, and the Korean delegation which included the Prime Minister, Lee Nak-yon. Also present were Gunilla Lindberg, the Chair of the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and IOC Executive Board Member; and several IOC Members.

Before the ceremony, President Bach met Prime Minister Lee, who assured him that the Republic of Korea was doing everything in its power to ensure that the Winter Games in PyeongChang would be successful and safe.

The President, joined by an Olympic delegation, laid a wreath at the commemorative stele which contains the heart of Pierre de Coubertin, at the International Olympic Academy in Olympia.

He attended a reception in the town hall of Olympia, where he was welcomed by the Mayor, Efthymios Kotzias, and the city councillors, as well as by the members of the International Olympic Truce Centre.

The IOC President was the special guest of the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, at the C40 Together4Climate conference. The two leaders addressed an audience of global mayors and business leaders. In his speech, the President said: “In the past, bidding for the Olympic Games was like applying for a franchise. We have changed this and transformed the process so that we are now asking the host cities: how can we adapt the Olympic Games to best fit the long-term needs of your city?”

During a meeting at the Paris City Hall, the two leaders discussed the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, as well as the cooperation between Paris and Los Angeles, which will organise the Olympic Games in 2028. Throughout the visit, the President was accompanied by the President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and lOC Member, Tony Estanguet, and IOC Member in France Guy Drut. Read the full press release here.

The IOC President welcomed the members of the Transport and Telecommunications Committee of the Swiss Council of States (CTT-E), chaired by Olivier Français, to The Olympic Museum. Relations between Switzerland and the IOC were at the heart of this visit.

President Bach took part in the awards ceremony of the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) in the presence of the FAI President, Frits Brink, and its Secretary General, Susanne Schödel. The ceremony was held as part of the 111th FAI General Conference in Lausanne.

At the invitation of the IOC, Professors Holger Preuss, Wladimir Andreff and A. Stewart visited the Olympic Studies Centre (OSC). They took part in a discussion on how academic research can contribute to better measuring and communicating about the economic impact of hosting the Olympic Games. They were welcomed by President Bach.

MEMBERS

During the Sportel awards ceremony held in Monaco, Camiel Eurlings (r. in photo) presented the IOC Grand Prize to UEFA's #EqualGame campaign video, in the presence of Prince Albert II (see also under “Other Olympic News”).

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS

Attending the inaugural Together4Climate event in Paris, the mayors of the two host cities for the Olympic Games 2024 and 2028, Anne Hidalgo (Paris) and Eric Garcetti (Los Angeles), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Olympic cooperation. As a result, Paris and Los Angeles will seek to build on their relationship to work closely with each other and share best practices in the areas of sustainability, inclusiveness and innovation. At the end of the event, Hidalgo, Garcetti and the 10 other mayors who sit on the C40 steering committee signed the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, which sets out a series of ambitious targets relating to climate change, air pollution and improving quality of life. The declaration’s 12 signatories have pledged to make their cities largely zero emission by 2030, an objective that Tokyo, the host city of the Olympic Games 2020, is also working towards. Read the full press release here.

It has been a successful week for the Olympic Channel during the annual SportelMonaco convention. The Olympic Channel original series “Camps to Champs” was awarded the Jury Prize at the Sportel awards ceremony on 24 October. A four-part series, “Camps to Champs” investigates how sport can positively change lives by visiting refugee camps and areas for the displaced. Each episode is told through the eyes of an Olympian who demonstrates the impact of outreach programmes and grassroots sports activities.

The Jury Prize was accepted by Olympic Channel Head of Programming Federico de Mojana and Director of Original Programming Greg Groggel, who oversaw the production of “Camps to Champs” (photo). In addition, the Olympic Channel was named Best Sports Thematic Channel at the 2017 TV Sports Awards annual gala on 23 October, also held in conjunction with Sportel. The award recognises a channel or platform that dedicates itself to a specific sport and offers its fans new and exclusive insight into their interests or hobbies.

A series of workshops on competition manipulation has been held in West Africa by INTERPOL and the IOC. The first event, a Regional Integrity in Sport workshop (25 October), brought together more than 50 representatives from law enforcement, government, betting entities and sports organisations from Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal in order to help address the criminal challenges posed by competition manipulation and other threats to the integrity of sport.  Training was provided by INTERPOL, the IOC and the Française des Jeux (FDJ). The event was attended by the President of the Senegalese NOC, IOC Member Mamadou D. Ndiaye, the former President of the IOC Ethics Commission, Youssoupha Ndiaye, and the Director General of Senegal’s Judicial Police, Seydina Bocar Yague. Following the regional workshop, partnership development meetings were organised on 26 October for representatives from the five participating countries. Read the full news here.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS

SUMMER IFS

A two-day Gender Leadership meeting was recently hosted in Manama by the Bahrain Athletics Association for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Chaired by IAAF Council member Stephanie Hightower, the working group agreed that encouraging male advocacy, using the power of voice at all levels of the sport, identifying bias and selecting process changes is what is needed to ensure the Gender Leadership targets set during last year’s reform process are met. The Gender Leadership Working Group will be taking proposals to the IAAF Council in November for approval, and work will begin immediately afterwards to ensure that the 2019 constitutional goals are met. Read the news here.

Representatives from United World Wrestling (UWW) travelled to Armenia and Georgia recently to take part in the UNESCO-sponsored anti-doping project “UNESCO Fund for the Elimination of Doping in Sport”. Areg Hovhvannissyan from the Armenian Anti-Doping Agency coordinated three seminars across two countries: in Erevan and Gyumri in Armenia, and Tbilisi in Georgia. The Gyumri seminar was attended by the coach and father of Artur Aleksanyan, the Rio 2016 Olympic champion. More than 200 wrestlers, coaches and administrators attended the workshops. Topics addressed included the consequences of doping on health and the types of sanctions often incurred by athletes and coaches. More info on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

The Hague (Netherlands) played host to a diving judges training course supported by the Royal Dutch Swimming Federation and the International Swimming Federation (FINA) from 30 September to 1 October. Some 29 local and foreign judges ranging from beginner to advanced level took part in the course, which offered theory and training sessions. In Victoria (Canada), a diving judges certification programme was organised by Diving Canada and attended by 39 participants, mostly from Canada but also from the US, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru. In addition, in late September the Japanese Swimming Federation welcomed 33 participants from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia for an open water swimming training programme in Odaiba – the venue of the marathon swimming competition for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. More info on www.fina.org.

The 21st edition of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Academy’s international coaches course took place in Bar (Montenegro) from 4 to 12 October. A total of 22 coaches, including some from as far as Bhutan and Canada, took part. The agenda featured talks and workshops on shooting techniques and sports science. Read the press release here.

On 24 October, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) announced that the WBSC and 82 national baseball and softball federations (to date) have endorsed the Helsinki Declaration on Women and Sport (IWG Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration). WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari signed the Declaration alongside the IWG Co-Chair, Ruth Maphorisa, in Gaborone (Botswana). The 82 federations then also became signatories, in support of the IWG movement. Full details here.

WINTER IFS

The World Curling Federation (WCF) has announced that the 2017 Olympic qualification event will take place in Pilsen (Czech Republic) from 5 to 10 December. The competition will see the final teams/member associations qualify for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. More info on www.worldcurling.org.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES

On 16 October, the Albanian NOC organised a “Gender Equality in Sport” forum in Tirana, in cooperation with the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO) and the ENGSO Equality Within Sport (EWS) Commission. Under the theme “Female leadership as part of good governance in sport”, the Forum brought together 80 participants. The NOC President, Viron Bezhani; the Director of Sports at the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, Vladimir Gjonaj; the Honorary President of ENGSO, Birgitta Kervinen; and the EWS Chair Kristina Thuree all attended the opening ceremony. The Forum concluded with the recommendations of the various working groups, which included reviewing legislation on gender equality in sports institution or federation boards, encouraging male participation in gender equality forums and integrating female coaches into national teams. More info on www.nocalbania.org.

The first stone of the Olympafrica Centre in Santa Cruz (Cape Verde) was laid on 17 October. The construction of this Centre has been made possible thanks to funding from the International Olympafrica Foundation and the Cape Verde NOC. The ceremony was attended by the NOC President, Filomena Fortes and the Minister for Sport, Fernando Elísio Freire. The local authorities have given permission for the Centre to be built on the three-hectare site, and the Ministry for Sport has pledged to lay an athletics track and possibly a football pitch. Read the news here.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee recently hosted an international conference on women and sport, entitled “Education, Policies and Resource Integration”. Organised in conjunction with the APEC Sports Policy Network (ASPN), the conference brought together over 200 participants – delegates from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member organisations – to share policies and best practices in promoting women’s participation in sport through education. The keynote speeches were delivered by Natalya Sipovich, Chair of the Women and Sport Committee at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA); Supitr Samahito, Vice-President of the Thai NOC; and Vickie Saunders, founder of “The Sponsorship Consultants” in Australia. More info on www.tpenoc.net.

The Colombian NOC’s Olympic Academy hosted the first day of a meeting on Olympic university chairs at its headquarters in Bogotá on 19 October. Opened by the Vice-President of the Academy, Alberto Ferrer Vargas, the meeting is aimed at the deans and professors of Colombian universities which have an Olympic chair, as established by the NOC. Topics addressed included Olympic debates and philately, the history of Colombian sport, the disciplinary system in sport and the Olympic Solidarity programme. Read more details here.

Following the agreement signed between the Spanish Committee for Refugee Aid (CEAR) and the Spanish NOC, the NOC handed out sports equipment in a refugee centre in Getafe, a suburb of Madrid. The agreement was signed in the first quarter of 2017 to implement sports programmes and other projects that could be used as a tool to integrate refugees into Spanish society. In addition, the Spanish NOC recently joined the UN Global Compact, committing to the UN’s 10 principles in areas relating to human rights, international labour laws, the environment and the fight against corruption. More info on www.coe.es.

Spyros Capralos (see photo) has been re-elected President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee for the next four years. This will be his third term as NOC President. More info on www.hoc.gr.

After the success of the GEO social sports project in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the Dutch NOC (NOC NSF) set out to establish a new social partnership in Japan. As a result, the Japanese Sports Council, the NOC and three municipal districts of Tokyo (Adashi-ku, Edogawa-ku and Nishitokyo) have signed an innovative cooperation agreement. The five organisations will jointly establish a new social alliance in the build-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, supporting the integration of people with disabilities into Japanese society. Enhancing social inclusion is an important area for the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Japanese Government. This project aims to contribute to the legacy of the Games. The Dutch NOC is currently the only NOC carrying out such an initiative in Japan. More info on www.nocnsf.nl.

The Turkish Olympic Committee (TOC)’s “Active Kids” project, which is being carried out in partnership with Nike, is currently underway at five primary schools in Istanbul. The project, which is expected to reach over 2,000 children in the 2017-2018 school year, takes place in schools at weekends, and allows children to take part in a range of sports activities under the supervision of qualified instructors. The programme was launched during the 2014-15 school year and is designed to combat physical inactivity among young people by encouraging them to be more active. Through “Active Kids” and other youth-oriented programmes, the TOC is looking to make sport more accessible to children throughout Turkey. At the end of each year, the TOC surveys children and their parents to monitor the children’s progress and determine the physical activity and anxiety levels of those taking part. The findings are measured against similar projects across the globe and are analysed and published by a university in Istanbul. Read the news here.

On 12 October, the NOC of Uruguay held its traditional awards ceremony to recognise the best sporting performances of the year, with the country’s highest sports authorities in attendance. The award for best athlete of the year was given to Emiliano Lasa (see photo), who finished sixth in the long jump at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and was awarded an Olympic diploma. The award for best young athlete was given to tennis player María Fernanda Secinaro, while Luis Chiapparro (sailing) was named best coach. More details here.

ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES

TOKYO 2020

The countdown to Tokyo 2020 reached a significant milestone on 28 October, which marks the 1,000-days-to-go point before the start of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad. The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) is celebrating the milestone with a series of events that will run through to 29 November. The programme kicked off with the "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Countdown – 1,000 Days to Go" event in the Japanese capital on 28 October, which featured a parade, a special stage event attended by Olympic athletes and dignitaries including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, and demonstrations and public participation sessions of three sports – 3x3 basketball, skateboarding and BMX freestyle - which will be featuring at Tokyo 2020. Read the full news here.

Tokyo 2020 has also announced that 62 municipalities across Japan have volunteered to participate in Operation BATON (“Building Athletes’ village with Timber Of the Nation”). The aim of this sustainability initiative is to construct the village plaza for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 using timber produced in the participating municipalities. Sustainable development and engagement with the whole country are the key driving forces behind the project. Municipalities will lend timber that will then be returned to them to be re-used after the plaza has been dismantled. More info on www.tokyo2020.jp.

RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS

The Assembly of the European Athletes has elected its new Athletes’ Commission for the 2017-2021 quadrennial: six top athletes for summer sports and two for winter sports. Estonian Gerd Kanter (pictured), Olympic champion in discus at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, will chair the Commission. The election was the highlight of the 9th Forum and 5th General Assembly of the European Athletes held in Monaco from 18 to 20 October, in which the acting President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), Janez Kocijančič, and the Secretary General, Raffaele Pagnozzi, also took part. These meetings were also a special opportunity for athletes and NOC leaders to address topical issues such as the protection of clean athletes, how to set up an effective Athletes’ Commission, and above all to exchange views and proposals. Read the news here.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that Jose Luis Campo, President of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC), died on 16 October in Mar del Plata (Argentina). A physical education teacher for youngsters with an impairment by profession, he was instrumental in the development of the Paralympic Movement in the Americas. He was elected the APC’s founding President in 1997 and served two terms until 2005, before being elected President once again in 2013. He was serving his fourth term following his re-election in March 2017. More details here. The IPC has also recently extended its worldwide partnership with Visa until 2020. More info here.

On 25 October, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published its 2016 Testing Figures Report (2016 Report), which summarizes the results of all the samples WADA-accredited laboratories analyzed and reported in WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) in 2016. This is the second set of global testing results since the revised World Anti-Doping Code (Code) came into effect in January 2015. Full details here.