Olympic Highlights

IOC ACTIVITIES

PRESIDENT

The leading representatives of the Olympic Movement met in Lausanne for the fifth Olympic Summit, convened and chaired by IOC President Thomas Bach. The Summit agreed on in-principle proposals concerning a full review of the WADA anti-doping system. Read the Declaration issued after the Summit here.

Leaders of sport, religion and politics came together in the Vatican for the first Global Conference on Faith and Sport. Before the conference, IOC President Thomas Bach was received for a private audience by Pope Francis.

The conference saw the IOC President, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis give welcoming speeches ahead of the three-day conference, which aims to put “sport at the service of humanity”. The inaugural conference is described by organisers as a “chance for a new drive to promote and extol the virtues of Faith and Sport in our lives.” The meeting is organised under the six principles “shared by faith and sport” of compassion, respect, love, enlightenment, balance and joy. After the conference, the IOC President held a meeting with the UN Secretary General to discuss the cooperation with the IOC and the UN with regard to refugees and the Sustainable Development Goals. IOC Honorary President Jacques Rogge, IOC Vice Presidents John Coates, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Uğur Erdener, and IOC Members Franco Carraro, Mario Pescante, Sovereign Prince Albert II, Sam Ramsamy, Philip Craven, Prince Feisal Bin Al-Hussein, Kirsty Coventry and Nita Ambani also attended the conference. Read the complete press release here.

The IOC President welcomed the President of the Chinese NOC, Liu Peng, who is also Director General of the Organising Committee of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, accompanied by IOC Vice-President Yu Zaiqing. They discussed the first meeting of the Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, which will soon be travelling to the Chinese capital.

President Thomas Bach met the President of the International Triathlon Union, IOC Member Marisol Casado, and discussed the success of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and the smooth running of the Olympic triathlon event as well as the protection of clean athletes.

The President had meetings with IOC Members Craig Reedie, Angela Ruggiero, Sam Ramsamy, Alexander Zhukov and Lawrence F. Probst as well as IAAF President Sebastian Coe.

This week at the Olympic Museum, the IOC President took part in the commemoration of the Day of German Unity, which was organised by the German embassy in Switzerland.

HONORARY MEMBERS

James L. Easton was awarded the Olympic Torch Trophy by the United States Olympic Committee in recognition of his contribution to the Olympic Movement and promotion of the Olympic ideals.

Carlos Arthur Nuzman has been re-elected President of the Brazilian NOC for the period 2017-2020. He has been President of the Brazilian NOC since 1995. (see also under the “NOCs” section below).

COMMISSIONS

The Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 wrapped up its seventh visit pleased with the progress of venue construction. The Commission, led by IOC Executive Board Member Gunilla Lindberg, assessed every aspect of Games preparations during three days of venue visits and collaborative discussions with the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee. The Games organisers reported that, on average, the new venues in PyeongChang and nearby Gangneung are 90 per cent complete in advance of 26 test events scheduled between this November and April 2017. Representatives from all seven winter IFs also joined the discussions in PyeongChang. Read the complete press release here.

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS

On 29 September, Interpol and the IOC led a workshop on “Sports integrity – training the trainers” in Zagreb (Croatia), for Croatian sports federations. The workshop strengthened understanding of the threats to the values of sport caused by unethical behaviour such as match-fixing. It also reinforced knowledge and understanding of the international response to match-fixing, including the Olympic Code on the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions. The workshop was followed on 27 and 28 September in Zagreb by a regional seminar of the Council of Europe / European Union (DG Home Affairs) joint project “Keep crime out of sport” (KCOOS). The IOC, as an official partner in the KCOOS Project, made a presentation to representatives of law enforcement and justice, ministries, betting operators, betting regulatory authorities and the sports movement from Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary and Ukraine. The seminar comes after the recent International Conference on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions held in Strasbourg (France) at the Council of Europe headquarters on 20 and 21 September. More info on www.coe.int/sport/kcoos.

The IOC has launched a revamped edition of its Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) toolkit. The IOC has updated its series of free and practical learning resources – the OVEP toolkit, version 2.0 – which blends sport with education and cultural expression so as to make learning fun and dynamic and to form well-rounded individuals. Read the complete press release here.

To provide a level playing field for all clean athletes at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC put special measures in place, including targeted pre-tests and the re-analysis of stored samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012, following an intelligence-gathering process that started in August 2015. As part of this process, the IOC announced on 6 October that Anna Chicherova of the Russian Federation has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, in which she competed in the women’s high jump event, ranked third and was awarded the bronze medal. Read the complete press release here.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS

SUMMER IFS

A record number of entries have been received for the World Rowing Coastal Championships, which are due to take place from 21 to 23 October in Monaco. Nearly 700 athletes from 30 countries will take part, including a number of rowers who recently competed in the Olympic Games. More info on the World Rowing Federation (FISA) website, www.worldrowing.com.

For the fifth consecutive year, the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have joined forces to produce the International Basketball Migration Report (IBMR). The 2016 edition is accompanied by an additional Evolution Report which focuses on trends since the inception of the IBMR in 2012. More info on www.fiba.com and www.cies.ch.

In the presence of the President of the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), IOC Executive Board Member Ching-Kuo Wu, the AIBA Referees & Judges and Technical & Rules Commissions (see photo above) convened in Lausanne, from 3 to 5 October, to reflect upon the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and plan affirmative actions to build on during the new Olympic cycle. Several crucial recommendations were made in the areas of referees and judges, the education of boxers and coaches, and improving the dialogue with National Federations. More info on www.aiba.org.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed that England, Belgium and South Africa will host the Hockey World League semi-finals from 15 June to 23 July 2017. The two men’s and two women’s semi-finals will be qualifiers for the Hockey World Cup 2018. More info on www.fih.ch.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) has launched its fifth educational tour in India, after successful events in China, Northern Canada, Oceania and Australia. The tour, organised jointly by the IJF and the Indian Judo Federation, opened at the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra, in the presence of 100 judokas (see photo above). Over the next two weeks a delegation of Indian officials led by federation president Mukesh Kumar and IJF representatives will travel throughout northern India to promote the educational values of judo. The IJF delegation includes Nicolas Messner, IJF Media and Communication Director and Judo for Peace Director and, for the first time, Olympic and world championship medallist Ungvari Miklos of Hungary. After Agra the tour will move on to Haridwar, Dehradun, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Sonipat, Rohtak and Narnaul, before the final stage in New Delhi. The IJF delegation will then continue on to Nepal to meet the judokas who were affected by the 2015 earthquake. More info on www.ijf.org.

The top 18-and-under swimmers in the world will go to Indianapolis (USA) for the 2017 International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Junior Swimming championships. The event, hosted by USA Swimming and United States Aquatic Sports, will take place in August (dates to be confirmed) at the Indiana University Natatorium on the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis campus. These championships were launched in 2006 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and were subsequently held in Monterrey (Mexico) in 2008, Lima (Peru) in 2001, Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in 2013 and Singapore (Singapore) in 2015. Nearly 1000 athletes from around 100 countries are expected in Indianapolis in 2017. More info on www.fina.org.

The International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) and the International Military Sports Council (CISM) incorporated the first-ever Coaches Clinic into the 44th CISM Military World Modern Pentathlon Championships in Warendorf (Germany). Strong links remain between the modern pentathlon and the military, as can be seen by the fact that two of the Rio 2016 Olympic women’s medallists – Elodie Clouvel (France, silver) and Oktawia Nowacka (Poland, bronze) competed in the World Military Championships, along with current men’s world champion Valentin Belaud of France. More info on www.pentathlon.org.

World Rugby’s committees and board members met in Buenos Aires (Argentina) for a week of meetings. Agenda items included a review of the closed law trials currently operational in competitions around the world, player welfare injury-prevention strategies, mass participation and high performance strategies, a review of Rio 2016, Rugby World Cup 2019 preparation, Rugby World Cup 2023 host selection process and further consideration of the global calendar. World Rugby President Bill Beaumont and Vice-President Agustín Pichot also met Argentina’s President, Mauricio Macri. For more info visit www.worldrugby.org.

World Sailing has launched a new brand identity. This new visual identity is accompanied by a new vision and mission which put sport, nature and technology at its core and fully completes the transition from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) to World Sailing which commenced in November 2015. The new brand will come to life at the IF’s Annual Conference in Barcelona (Spain). The federation will lay down plans for a healthy, sustainable future for the sport, as well as the more specific subject of sustainability in the waters of the world. The dialogue and engagement will be centred on an overarching theme of 'Our Sustainable Future'. More info on www.sailing.org.

WINTER IFS

The International Skating Union (ISU) has launched its ISU Online Shop, which will feature ISU publications including A History of the International Skating Union – Seasons 1991/92 through 2014/15 published on the occasion of the 2016 ISU Congress which took place in Dubrovnik (Croatia). More info on www.isu.org.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES

In accordance with the 39th recommendation of Olympic Agenda 2020, on 23 September the NOCs of Albania and Macedonia organised a joint seminar on Advanced Sport Management (see photo above) in Ohrid, Macedonia. The purpose of the seminar was to exchange knowledge and learn from the experiences of other countries in the field of sports management, as well as getting to know and strengthening the sports managers’ network in the region. The participants were greeted by Angel Janev, Deputy Mayor of Ohrid, Vasil Tupurkovski, President of the Macedonian NOC and Viron Bezhani, President of the Albanian NOC. Sixteen participants (eight from each country) attended the seminar on the theme of good governance in sports organisations. More info on www.nocalbania.org.al and www.mok.org.mk.

The Legends’ Race – Biathlon Stars for Peace festival took place on 18 September at the National Olympic Centre in Raubichi. The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met the participants (see photo above) in the event, which is targeted at retired professional athletes. A number of Olympic champions were present in Raubichi, where the Belarusian NOC also provided family leisure activities including archery, mini-golf and curling. The event was jointly organised by the Belarusian Biathlon Federation, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, the NOC, the President’s Sports Club, the City of Minsk and the Minsk Region Executive Committees. More info on www.noc.by.

On 4 October, Carlos Arthur Nuzman and Paulo Wanderley Teixeira were re-elected respectively as President and Vice-President of the Brazilian NOC for the period 2017-2020. The composition of the Supervisory Board has also been announced. For the Olympic cycle, until the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the NOC intends to consolidate the sporting legacy of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 in order to ensure sustainable growth for elite sport in the country. On this occasion, Carlos Arthur Nuzman announced that Agberto Guimarães, Olympic athletics and 800m Pan-American champion, will be the new COB Executive Director of Sport. More info on www.cob.org.br.

The Spanish NOC and the INCYDE Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding on developing the “Build your future” (Construye tu futuro) programme, as part of a scheme for young entrepreneurs jointly financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). NOC President Alejandro Blanco was present at the ceremony, along with NOC Treasurer Manuel Parga, the Director General of the Foundation, Javier Collado, and Foundation Technical Director José María Párraga (see photo above). The aim of the programme is to promote a series of actions to promote the adoption of new technologies and improvement of existing technologies, with the aim of supporting business initiatives within the sports community in Spain. More info on www.coe.es.

In Tel Aviv, the Olympic Committee of Israel held the 44th annual ceremony in memory of the 11 victims of the attack during the Olympic Games Munich 1972 (see photo above). Hundreds of people attended the ceremony, including NOC President Igal Carmi and NOC CEO Gilad Lustig, IOC Member Alex Gilady, the German Ambassador to Israel, Clemens von Goetze, representatives of the Israeli Government and Tel Aviv Municipality, Munich survivors, families of the 11 victims with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as Olympic athletes and members of a Rio 2016 delegation and many other guests. In his speech, Igal Carmi recalled the memorial ceremony held at the Olympic Village at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 in the presence of the IOC President. More info on www.olympic.one.co.il.

The International “Artek” Youth Centre in Kyiv hosted the grand final of the 6th annual “Olympic Stork” project, an initiative of the NOC of Ukraine. The objective is to promote the Olympic values, an active lifestyle, friendship, respect and patriotism among school kids aged between 10 and 12. The qualification process involved thousands of children in all 25 regions, who competed at several levels including school and regional competitions. 300 finalists from all over Ukraine took part in a week-long series of sports competitions and creative contests. Some thirty champions including 15 Olympic medallists shared their life stories with the children (see photo above). In November selection for the Olympic Stork 2017 will be launched in every school in the country. More info on www.noc-ukr.org.

ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES

PYEONGCHANG 2018

The Organising Committee of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 has ended its volunteer recruitment drive after receiving four times more applicants than the number of volunteers needed for the Olympic Winter Games. More than 91,000 candidates from 145 countries offered to help the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee deliver successful Games. The Organising Committee expects to select about 22,000 volunteers to assist with a variety of tasks, from medical services to helping spectators find their seats at sports venues. Read the complete press release here.

TOKYO 2020

An enthusiastic crowd estimated at 800,000 filled Tokyo’s downtown streets on 7 October to give 87 Japanese medallists from the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games an ecstatic homecoming (see photo above). The parade proceeded for about 2.5 kilometres from the Ginza district, Tokyo’s world-famous shopping and dining area, to the traditional Nihonbashi district, the city’s historical centre. The event, which provided a taste of the kinds of scenes the world’s athletes can expect when the Japanese capital hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, was preceded by an opening ceremony. Attending it were three-time Olympic wrestling champion and Rio 2016 silver medallist Saori Yoshida and Paralympic wheelchair tennis bronze medallist Yui Kamiji, who respectively carried the Olympic and Paralympic flags for the occasion. Joining them were a number of dignitaries, among them Japanese Minister of Education Matsuno Hirokazu, and President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and IOC Member Takeda Tsunekazu. More info on www.tokyo2020.jp.

RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS

The President of the Association of IOC-recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF), Raffaele Chiulli, and ARISF Council member Anna Arzhanova were invited to the European Parliament to talk about the Universal Language of Sport. Anna Arzhanova underlined the increasingly important role of women in sport and Raffaele Chiulli stressed ARISF’s support for all sport initiatives designed to promote participation, physical activity, dual careers for athletes, good governance, integrity and social inclusion. More info on www.arisf.org.