Nicky Van Rossem

BEL

Role

Project Officer

Organization

Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee

Nicky Van Rossem is a former athlete and academic who was selected as a Belgian Young Change-Maker for her work in the fight against doping.

Van Rossem graduated from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2015, where she wrote her master’s thesis, “The competencies required by elite student-athletes during the transition to higher education.” After finishing her degree, she started working for Sport Psychology and Mental Support, a research group under the direction of Professor Paul Wylleman. While researching career guidance for elite athletes, she served as a career support provider for student-athletes choosing to combine athletic and academic careers.

In 2016, Nicky was selected as a Young Change-Maker for the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer. As a researcher active in the field, she recognised the need to transfer knowledge based on scientific data to sports communities. With this in mind, she organised an IOC Young Change-Maker Gold project based on a four-year World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) study, identifying incentives and deterrents for drug-taking behaviour in elite sports in order to prevent young athletes from doping.

Since 2017, Nicky has been working for the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee as a Project Officer. She will also be Belgium’s Young Change-Maker during the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018.

The speakers

Using the unique power of sport to bring people together, the Olympism in Action Forum saw a range of global players, including Olympic Movement stakeholders, athletes, private and public sector leaders, NGO representatives, academics, artists and the media come together to talk on topical contemporary issues. Chosen because of their ability to effect change and their wide range of sometimes differing opinions, the speakers led lively debates and seeked to challenge received wisdom to inspire new ways of thinking.