Olympic Highlights 16/06/2023
IOC
PRESIDENT
This week at Olympic House, IOC President Thomas Bach held a meeting with the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Daren Tang. President Bach was accompanied by IOC Vice-President Ser Miang Ng. After the meeting, the IOC and WIPO signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement to promote the use and management of intellectual property (IP) in sport and establish a legal framework for the collaboration between the two organisations. More details under “Other Olympic News”.
The IOC President spoke this week on the phone with Chinese NOC President Gao Zhidan. They discussed a number of Olympic topics, including the preparations of the Chinese athletes for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The leading role of China in the Olympic Movement and its role as the host of many upcoming major international sports events were also mentioned.
President Bach welcomed at Olympic House the President of NOC of Sri Lanka Surendran Subramaniam. The topics discussed included the situation of sport in the country and in particular the ongoing issues relating to the sports law in the country.
Also at Olympic House, the President received Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus. The two men discussed the excellent cooperation between the IOC and the Yunus Centre, particularly with regard to their many initiatives that bring together social business, a concept pioneered by Professor Yunus, with the world of sport, such as the IOC Young Leaders Programme, the “Imagine” Peace Youth Camp and the Athlete365 Business Accelerator – the first entrepreneurship programme to help Olympians with career transition. They also discussed his close cooperation with the Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committees.
President Bach welcomed the President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) Adam Kosa. Their discussions focused on the ICSD’s situation, development and financial consolidation progress, and the framework for future cooperation between the two organisations.
The IOC President also met Michael Evans, Director and President of Worldwide Olympic Partner Alibaba. The excellent cooperation between the two organisations was discussed, in particular Alibaba’s engagement with the Olympic Movement and the IOC’s digital strategy, in particular Artificial Intelligence. Evans was accompanied by Michael Payne, a marketing consultant and former IOC Marketing Director.
Various topical issues were discussed at a meeting with Jean Todt, United Nations Special Envoy for Road Safety and Honorary President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
At Olympic House, the IOC President presented a diploma and OLY pin to Petr Svoboda, an Olympic ice hockey champion with the Czech team at the Nagano 1998 Games; and to Bob De Voogd, a hockey silver medallist with the Netherlands team at London 2012 who also took part in the Rio 2016 Games. The athletes signed the Olympians Wall.
Meetings were held with IOC Vice-President Ser Miang Ng, IOC Executive Board member Ivo Ferriani, and IOC Member Sergii Bubka. The discussions focused on a wide range of current Olympic topics, including the upcoming IOC Session and the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The President also took part in the meeting of the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) Executive Committee.
MEMBERS
IOC Member KhunyingPatama Leeswadtrakul, who is also Chair of the IOC Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission, delivered a speech on behalf of the IOC President at the General Assembly of the International Sports Cinema and Television Federation (FICTS) held on 9 June in Cortina, Italy. During the Assembly, she was presented with the “Golden Card - FICTS Honorary Member” by FICTS President Franco Ascani. See also under “Recognised Organisations”.
TOP PARTNERS
Worldwide Olympic Partner Samsung is celebrating this year’s Olympic Day under the global motto “Let’s Move”, with the launch of an exciting challenge that aims to encourage users worldwide to log steps, stay active and embrace the significant health benefits of daily movement. The Samsung Health Olympic Day Step Challenge is available in 17 countries and nine languages via the Samsung Health app. Read the full news release here.
OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
On 13 June at Olympic House, the IOC and WIPO signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement. By leveraging their combined expertise and resources, the IOC and WIPO are aiming to foster the common goals within their missions, with their collaboration contributing to the development and promotion of innovation, creativity and the responsible management of intellectual property in sport. The signing of the Agreement solidifies their commitment to work together, and outlines the conditions for potential future projects within their respective competencies and regulations. Under the Agreement, the IOC and WIPO will embark on joint initiatives and programmes that reinforce the importance of IP rights in sport. Read the full news release here.
On 13 June, the IOC announced a new global initiative to inspire and enable the world to move more every day. Led by Olympians and created in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), “Let’s Move” will begin on Olympic Day, 23 June, with an invitation to make time every day for movement for better health. Allyson Felix, Pau Gasol, PV Sindhu and Yusra Mardini are amongst the Olympians inviting people to join the movement starting on 23 June. Read the full news release here
Four IOC Young Leaders represented the IOC Young Leaders Programme at ENGSO Youth’s European Youth and Sport Platform 2023 in Stockholm, Sweden, where they delivered a workshop and helped produce the Conclusions paper on youth representation in sports governance. The three-day forum, from 1 to 4 June, brought together more than 100 sports and community leaders aged between 18 and 35 from all over Europe for discussions around the themes of good governance, digitalisation and sustainability, and to join forces to develop a Conclusions paper with recommendations (recommendations in full here) aimed at European policy- and decision-makers. Read the full news release here.
On 15 June, the IOC announced that Infront Sports & Media AG (Infront) has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in 22 countries in Central and South-East Asia for the XXV Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad Los Angeles 2028, the XXVI Olympic Winter Games in 2030 and the Games of the XXXV Olympiad Brisbane 2032, as well as for the Youth Olympic Games during the period. Read the full news release here.
The IOC has launched a new collection in honour of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the IOC and reviver of the Olympic Games. The collection celebrates the rich heritage of the Olympic spirit through a series of items that feature meaningful quotes and stylised portraits of Pierre de Coubertin. The collection is now available at shop.olympics.com
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
International Basketball Federation (FIBA)
The FIBA 3x3 World 2023 Tour Final will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 8 and 9 December. The tournament was previously hosted in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and 2021, and the World Tour Masters in 2019 and 2022. The announcement was made during a ceremony at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2023, in Vienna, Austria in the presence of FIBA President Hamane Niang and Ghassan Tashkandi, President of the Saudi Arabia Basketball Federation. Full details here.
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)
The first edition of the UCI Snow Bike World Championships will take place on 10 and 11 February 2024 in Châtel, Haute-Savoie (France). Two competition formats on snow, inspired by alpine skiing, will be on the programme for this first edition of the event: super-G and dual slalom. Full details here. In addition, the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) has announced the opening of a new UCI WCC Continental Development Satellite in San Juan, Argentina. Full details here.
World Triathlon
The second edition of the International Para Triathlon Conference will be held in Swansea, Great Britain, from 12 to 14 July 2023. Open to all national triathlon federations, the Conference will aim to build on the success of last year’s event and will focus on the importance of Para triathlon and ways to continue to establish the sport globally. More info here.
NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
Barbados Olympic Association Inc. (BOA)
The BOA has announced that Jessica Derrell and Solomon West will represent Barbados at the International Olympic Academy’s 63rd International Session for Young Olympic Ambassadors in Olympia, Greece. The main topic of this Session is: “Innovating physical education and Olympic values education to build a better world”. Derrell has played and coached rugby and led fundraising drives to augment the federation’s efforts. In addition to being an athlete, West has a background in community sports, and has been involved in sporting projects as a coach and youth worker. More info here. The BOA also announced that Olympian Hadley Hinds, OLY died at the age of 76 at the beginning of May. Hadley was a member of the historic Barbados Olympic team at Mexico City in 1968. This was the first time that Barbados competed at the Olympic Games, with Hinds competing in the 200m. More info here.
NOC of El Salvador
A seminar for sports journalists was held recently in El Salvador, with the support of the Centro Caribe Sports, whose President, IOC Member Luis Mejía Oviedo, was present. The aim of the seminar was to provide sports journalists from El Salvador with information in view of the 24th Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023. Among the topics addressed were the organisational challenges in the digital era, and the digital challengers of covering sport. NOC President Armando Bruni gave a presentation on Olympism. Over 30 sports journalists and professionals in TV, radio and the written press took part in this seminar. More details here.
Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC)
With Olympians Abe Hifumi and Abe Uta, the JOC hosted a judo event for children named “ABE CUP 2023 -Judo School and Friendly Match”. The event took place on 10 and 11 June in the Abe siblings’ home prefecture of Hyogo. They are well known as the first-ever sibling judo Olympic champions, winning on the same day at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. This event was part of the “Team Japan Symbol Athletes Social Action”. The programme included a judo school for local elementary school children, and a friendly match tournament for children from all over Japan. More details at www.joc.or.jp.
Lithuanian NOC (LNOC)
This year, the Olympic Day celebration was held in Panevėžys, the capital of Aukštaitija Region. Organised by the LNOC, the Lithuanian Olympic Fund and Panevėžys City Municipality, the 2023 edition involved more than 100 different sports and entertainment activities. More than 30 Olympic athletes took part in the celebration alongside thousands of other participants. For example, they competed in stand up paddle boarding, 3×3 basketball, the Lithuanian Olympic Mile, children’s 500m, 5km and 10km run, and breaking. Almost 2,000 participants accepted the challenges. The 2023 Olympic Day started with a traditional symbolic torch relay. Full details here.
Spanish NOC
NOC President Alejandro Blanco was awarded the gold and diamond medal and insignia of the Royal Spanish Handball Federation at a ceremony organised recently by the Federation in Madrid. He was presented with the distinction by Federation President Francisco V. Blázquez, in recognition of his remarkable work for Spanish handball. Those attending the ceremony included the National Sports Council President, José Manuel Franco. More details here.
Venezuelan NOC
At a press conference held on 13 June, the NOC announced its flagbearer and delegation for the Central American and Caribbean Games, which will be held from 23 June to 8 July in San Salvador (El Salvador). Some 472 athletes will take part in the 24th edition of these Games. Among those present at the press conference were NOC President María Soto; the Minister for Youth and Sports, Mervin Maldonado; and the President of the National Institute of Sport, Ninoska Clocier.
ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES
PARIS 2024
Some 120 middle school students from Seine-Saint-Denis and Paris came together on 12 June for a unique Model United Nations (UN) event centred around the Olympic Truce for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The initiative of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee was aimed at promoting peace and fraternity among nations, echoing the ancient tradition of the Olympic Truce. Addressing the participants by video, the IOC President underlined the important role they will play in ensuring a peaceful future for the world, and highlighted how next year’s Olympic Games will carry the same important message. Following the Model UN simulation day, an eight-member jury has now selected 16 delegates to take part in a trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly this autumn. Read the full news release here.
RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS
International Sports Cinema and Television Federation (FICTS)
Franco Ascani was re-elected as FICTS President for a four-year period (2024-27) during the General Assembly held on 8 and 9 June in Treviso and Cortina, Italy. The composition of the new Board of Directors and of the four Permanent International Commissions recorded an increase in the female quota (42%). In addition, a four-year Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the FICTS and the City of Fort Myers (USA) in the presence of Olympian Liston Bochette and Thomas J. Rosandich, President Emeritus and CEO of the United States Sports Academy (USSA), which sees the start of collaboration on different projects in the USA. Full info here.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
At the 18th Asia/Oceania Region Intergovernmental Ministerial Meeting on Anti-Doping in Sport held on 12 and 13 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the WADA leadership reflected on the prominent place the region holds in world sport, and encouraged the 35 countries represented to continue collaborating to strengthen the anti-doping system for athletes throughout the two continents. During the meeting, the participants adopted a resolution committing their support for the continued and sustained development of anti-doping programmes across the region. Full details here.