Hosted by the Peruvian National Olympic Committee (NOC), this Forum will bring together athletes, the members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission responsible for the IOC ACP in the specific regions, NOCs and Adecco representatives to exchange knowledge and experience on how best to support athletes with balancing dual careers and preparing post-sport careers.
Created in 2005 in cooperation with Adecco, the IOC ACP specifically provides resources and training to elite athletes in the areas of education, life skills and employment. The programme is developed internationally via the IOC ACP Outreach Programme and delivered by NOCs and Adecco in over 30 countries.
Alex Baumann, an Olympic silver medallist in bobsleigh, is one of many elite athletes who joined the programme in 2012 via the Swiss Olympic Athlete Career Programme. He says: “For me, it was always important to have a second plan. As an athlete you rely on the health of your body, and as we all know, that can stop from one moment to the next.”
Today, Baumann has a degree and has found an employer in the food industry willing to allow a flexible work programme that can fit around Baumann’s training and study obligations.
Supporting athletes, be it in the sports arena or beyond, is central to the International Olympic Committee’s objectives. This was further emphasised in the adoption last December of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement.