Olympic Highlights
IOC ACTIVITIES
PrEsident
The IOC President met with IOC Member and International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) President Ivo Ferriani. President Bach congratulated him on the great success of the bobsleigh and skeleton events at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. The two men also discussed the preparations for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and this June’s PyeongChang Games Debrief in Beijing.
International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Mori Watanabe informed President Bach about the FIG Ethics Foundation to be approved next December by the FIG Council. The Foundation will be responsible for dealing with any issue related to ethics, misconduct, aggression and other rule violations. Preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 were also discussed.
At an International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) meeting held at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, President Bach presented the ISOH trophy to French Olympic historian Jean Durry, founder of the National Sports Museum of France and author of several books on Pierre de Coubertin, in recognition of his long-standing career. The ceremony was presided over by ISOH President David Wallechinsky.
President Bach also met Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus. They discussed the cooperation between the IOC and the Yunus Centre regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and on how sport can promote entrepreneurship and social business. Prof. Yunus informed President Bach about his experience of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and the joint march of the Korean teams. They also talked about this October’s Olympism in Action Forum in Buenos Aires, at which Prof. Yunus will be a speaker.
The President met the Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Switzerland, Han Tae Song, who is also the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the DPRK at the United Nations in Geneva. Ambassador Han Tae Song thanked the IOC for opening up the path to reconciliation in the Korean peninsula.
IOC member in Russia Alexander Zhukov came to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne for a farewell visit. He officially informed President Bach that he would not be standing for re-election and that with this, his position as an IOC member would cease. He informed the President that he had very much enjoyed working in the IOC, and he emphasised that both he and the Russian NOC (ROC) had had to accept administrative responsibility for the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system in Russia, even though in none of the reports there was any allegation of wrong-doing against either the ROC or himself. He said that this had not been easy either for the ROC or for him personally.
The IOC President thanked him for how the ROC and he had taken this decision, and accepted the sanctions and cooperated constructively with regard to the formation of the Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) team. Furthermore, he thanked him for all the contributions he had made to the IOC, particularly in his role as the Chair of the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Meetings were also held with IOC Vice-President Uğur Erdener and IOC Member Pál Schmitt.
The IOC President also attended the “Maimarkt” international equestrian tournament in Mannheim (Germany), at which he was able to congratulate the winners at the awards ceremony. He also signed the City of Mannheim’s Visitors’ Book during his stay.
MEMBERS
IOC Executive Board Member Gian-Franco Kasper (5th from right) was re-elected as International Ski Federation (FIS) President during the 51st FIS Congress held in Costa Navarino (Greece) (see also under ‘Winter IFs’). As a prelude to the Congress, Kasper was honoured by the Hellenic NOC in recognition of his long-standing contribution to the Olympic Movement and sport. The award was presented by NOC President Spyros Capralos (4th from right), in the presence of NOC member Vassilis Katsoras and Hellenic Ski Federation President Dimosthenis Girousis.
Marisol Casado took part in the opening ceremony of the 7th World Conference of the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) held in Gaborone (Botswana) from 17 to 20 May on the theme “Determine The Future. Be Part Of The Change.” She presented the IOC Gender Equality Review Project, whose 25 recommendations were approved by the IOC Session in February 2018.
At this same IWG Conference, the IOC organised a session on the protection of athletes with IOC Executive Board Member and IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Kirsty Coventry as moderator, and representatives from the NOCs of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana as speakers. The IOC toolkit on safeguarding athletes from harassment and abuse in sport was also distributed at this session.
OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
The Olympic Channel and Grupo Globo have announced a strategic distribution partnership in Brazil that runs until 2032. From August 2018, viewers can watch both Olympic Channel original programming and Olympic-related content from Globo during Olympic Channel-branded broadcasted programming hours, on Globo's free-to-air TV shows, such as Globo's weekly magazine show “Esporte Espectacular” and SporTV's news programme on pay TV, and also on a dedicated Olympic Channel digital portal on globoesporte.com. Read the press release here.
international sportS FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
Delegates from the Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s 189 member associations are meeting on 18 and 19 May in Bangkok (Thailand) at the BWF Members Forum and Annual General Meeting. The Forum’s theme is Enhancing Badminton’s Future – Right Time, Right Now, highlighting the BWF’s campaign to innovate the sport. More info at www.bwfbadminton.com
International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Honorary President Yvan Mainini died on 11 May aged 73. He became the 11th FIBA President at the FIBA World Congress in Istanbul (Turkey) in September 2010. Four years later, at the end of his term of office, he was elected FIBA Honorary President and appointed President of FIBA’s Foundation (the IBF). He stepped down from his IBF duties in late 2017 owing to health issues. More info here.
In addition, the National Basketball Association (NBA), FIBA and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) have announced that Basketball Without Borders Asia 2018 will take place from 30 May to 2 June at the NBA Academy India, marking the second time that the NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach programme has been held in India. More details here.
The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) has announced that its presidential election will take place at the FEI General Assembly on 20 November 2018 in Manama (Bahrain). In addition, 52 athletes from 26 countries on five continents are bidding for the eight Athlete Representative positions, to be decided by an online vote among athletes from each FEI discipline. Full details here.
World Weightlifting magazine’s “Jenő Boskovics Lifter of The Year 2017” trophies were presented at a gala on 7 May in Tbilisi (Georgia). International Weightlifting Federation President and IOC Honorary Member Tamás Aján and the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Kornél Jancsó, presented the trophies to Lasha Talakhadze and Lidia Valentin, winners of an online vote. In addition to her three Olympic medals and three European titles, Spain’s Lidia Valentin won the World Championship gold medal in 2017 in Anaheim (USA). Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze is a three-time European champion, two-time world champion and reigning Olympic champion. The gala was attended by some of Georgia’s most high-profile political and sports leaders, including Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Olympic champions Rafael Chimiskian, Kakhi Kakhiashvili and Giorgi Asanidze. More info here.
With a view to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the International Judo Federation (IJF) has launched a new website with an emphasis on interactive content and a focus on the biggest stories in elite and grassroots judo. Find out more here.
As part of the Senior Pan-American Championships in Lima (Peru), United World Wrestling (UWW)’s Development Department organised a National Federations (NF) Workshop, with 17 nations from the American continent participating. The objective of this course was to give guidance to Pan-American NFs to develop Olympic wrestling further in their respective countries. More info at www.unitedworldwrestling.org
At the World Water Polo Conference organised in Budapest (Hungary), International Swimming Federation (FINA) President and IOC Honorary Member Julio César Maglione, FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu and the FINA Vice-Presidents met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Parliament on 27 April. IOC Member and Hungarian NOC Honorary Life President Pál Schmitt, Hungarian Swimming Federation President Sandor Wladar and Hungarian Water Polo Federation President Denes Kemeny also attended this meeting. Besides recalling the memories and legacy of the 2017 World Championships in Hungary, the discussions focused on the aquatics competitions to be staged in the coming months and years in Hungary, such as the World Junior Swimming Championships in 2019. More info at www.fina.org.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) informed that from 14 to 17 April, the Panama Surfing Association (APS) hosted a series of ISA courses in Playa Venao, Panama with the support of Olympic Solidarity and the Panamanian Olympic Committee. The courses marked a milestone for the development of Surfing in the region, and the first Olympic Solidarity backed courses to be held in the country. 21 Panamanians, many of whom are current and past national champions in their respective disciplines, attended the courses. More info here.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF)’s East Africa Training Centre in Nairobi (Kenya) has been officially opened by ITF President David Haggerty. A joint venture between the ITF, the Confederation of African Tennis and Tennis Kenya, this centre has been operational for over two years, and is now a crucial element in the ITF’s development strategy, as are its sister centres in Casablanca (Morocco) and Lautoka (Fiji). More info here.
Meeting during the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad (Sweden), the Board of Directors of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) approved a new concept for the future of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships as well as some changes to the eligibility rules. The 2020 ITTF World Junior Table Tennis Championships were awarded to Guimaraes (Portugal). The next Board of Directors meeting will be held during the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest (Hungary). More info at www.ittf.com.
From 10 to 15 May, more than 200 delegates met in London (Great Britain) for the meetings of the Board, Events Committee, Equipment Committee and World Sailing's Council. Discussions were focused on events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition. Full details here. World Sailing has also announced that The Hague (Netherlands) has been chosen to host the 2022 Sailing World Championships, which will serve as the main qualification event for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Over 1,400 competitors will take part over two weeks in August 2022. More info here. In addition, the eSailing World Championships were officially launched on 10 May. Info here.
Winter Ifs
More than 1,100 delegates from 80 national federations are participating in the 51st edition of the of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Congress held in Costa Navarino (Greece). The Congress is focusing on the development of the FIS disciplines and steering the direction of the FIS to achieve success in a modern innovative ways. On 18 May, the FIS Congress re-elected Gian-Franco Kasper as FIS President as well as the 16 members of the FIS Council for the next two-year period from 2018 to 2020. More info at www.fis-ski.com.
NATIONAL Olympic COMMITTEES
The Algerian NOC and the Province of Bejaia, through the Department of Youth and Sport, organised its 27th Olympic Day on 3 and 4 May. It was officially opened by NOC President Mustapha Berraf and the Governor of Bejaia, in the presence of several Olympic champions and NOC Executive members. Many children took part in the various sports disciplines (karate, wrestling, boxing, volleyball, handball, football, badminton, athletics, sailing, tennis, etc). For the Olympic Day Run on 4 May, some 1,500 schoolchildren took to the starting line. The NOC also announced that Minister of Youth and Sport Mohamed Hattab, accompanied by the NOC President and the Governor of Oran, Mouloud Cherifi, had officially established the Organising Committee of the Mediterranean Games, which will be held in 2021 in the of the west Algerian capital.
On 10 May in Apac (Uganda), the Athletics for Development project, a joint project between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) and the German NOC (DOSB), was officially launched by Ugandan First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataaha Museveni and Sport for Development Ambassador and IOC Member Britta Heidemann (photo above). The event was held during the National Kids’ Athletics and Special Needs Learners Primary Schools Championships in the presence of more than 4,000 children and numerous guests. This project is being is being implemented by the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the DOSB in cooperation with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the German Athletics Association (DLV), the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and the Uganda Paralympic Committee (UPC) on behalf of the BMZ. Other projects to support children in developing countries and emerging economies are currently being implemented in Namibia, Jordan and Turkey. Read the news here.
The Brazilian NOC Assembly recently elected Marco Antônio La Porta as NOC Vice-President and the members of the recently established Executive Board and Ethics Committee. The voters were the 35 presidents of the Brazilian Olympic Confederations or their representatives, the 12 athletes with the most votes for a seat on the NOC’s Athletes’ Commission and IOC Member in Brazil Bernard Rajzman. Ten members (eight Confederation Presidents and two independent members) were elected to the Executive Board. The Ethics Committee is made up of five members, with the mandatory participation of three independent members. More info at www.cob.org.br.
On 5 May in Yilan, 246 parents and children took part in the 2018 Asian Games Family Fun Run. As a prelude to Olympic Day, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee organised the fun run in cooperation with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Indonesia Asian Games 2018 Organising Committee (INASGOC). Besides the local participants, OCA and INASGOC representatives were present, as was Japanese marathon runner Masako Chiba, who set the pace for the participants. As for the annual Olympic Day Run, it brought together 2,603 local and international runners for 21 and 10km races. More info at www.tpenoc.net.
Spanish NOC Secretary General Víctoria Cabezas has been elected as a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Gender Equality in Sport Commission following a meeting of the EOC Executive Committee held in Belgrade (Serbia). Cabezas is the first woman to hold the position of Secretary General of the Spanish NOC. Info at www.coe.es.
The International Coaching Enrichment Certification Programme (ICECP) class of 2018 was honoured at a ceremony organised on 29 April at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) headquarters in Lausanne. The 10th edition of this programme, developed by the United States NOC, the University of Delaware and the IOC, included 28 coaches representing 28 countries, 5 continents and 15 sports. Conducted in partnership with Olympic Solidarity, this programme has reached nearly 300 participants from 25 sports and 84 countries in its 10-year history. Kicked off on 16 September 2017 at the University of Delaware, the 2018 programme travelled to the Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs and several other sites around the US before culminating in Lausanne. Info at www.udel.edu/icecp.
An Anti-Doping and Sports Medicine Seminar was organised on 26 and 27 April by the NOC of Kazakhstan with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and Olympic Solidarity. Experts from Germany, the USA, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries shared their knowledge and experience with their colleagues from Kazakhstan. Over 300 participants – representatives of national federations on sports medicine, heads of physical education and sports departments, coaches and representatives of medical and educational organisations – took part in this seminar. A round table on “Modern sports training” was also organised for national coaches. Info at www.olympic.kz.
Organising Committees for the Youth Olympic Games
Buenos Aires 2018
The Buenos Aires 2018 Organising Committee has taken possession of the Youth Olympic Village, the future home to the 3,998 athletes who will compete in the biggest multisports event in Argentina's history. With its 31 towers, the Youth Olympic Village is transforming the Villa Soldati neighbourhood in the south of Buenos Aires. The development has propelled the construction of a public school and a day-care facility in the area, in addition to kicking off a project to turn a local hospital into a tertiary care centre. Full press release here.
recoGNISED Organisations
On 11 and 12 May in Belgrade (Serbia), the 39th European Olympic Committees (EOC)/IOC Seminar brought together delegates from all 50 NOCs of Europe and several other international NOCs. The agenda included reports on the preparations for the next two major events – the Minsk 2019 European Games and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, as well as EOC activity reports. The Winter Piotr Nurowski Best European Young Athlete Prize went to French biathlete Camille Bened, gold medallist at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Erzurum in Turkey. The next annual EOC Seminar will take place in Durazzo (Albania) in May 2019. More details here.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published its Independent Observer (IO) Team’s Report regarding the anti-doping programme at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. As it has done at a number of major events since 2000, at the IOC’s invitation, WADA sent an observer team to the Games with the aim of reinforcing confidence among athletes and the public as to the quality, effectiveness and reliability of the Games’ anti-doping programme. Full press release here.
In addition, the WADA and the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will yield CAD 2 million to focus on advanced areas of anti-doping scientific research. The two organizations have agreed to collaborate on a number of projects, particularly in connection with the application of digital technology, the use of artificial intelligence, the development of biomarkers of doping; and, in the social sciences sector. Full press release here.