Olympic Highlights of the Week

IOC Announces Olympic Highlights of the Week

On 18 and 19 June, IOC President Jacques Rogge was in Lillehammer (Norway) for the debriefing between the Organising Committee of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Innsbruck 2012, and the organisers of the second edition, Lillehammer 2016. Among other things, he took part in a seminar attended by over 200 people.

(PRWEB) June 22, 2012

IOC ACTIVITIES
PRESIDENT
On 18 and 19 June, IOC President Jacques Rogge was in Lillehammer (Norway) for the debriefing between the Organising Committee of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Innsbruck 2012, and the organisers of the second edition, Lillehammer 2016. Among other things, he took part in a seminar attended by over 200 people.

During his trip, President Rogge met the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Anniken Huitfeldt, before attending the opening of the new curling venue for the 2016 YOG and visiting the venues for the Nordic skiing events at Birkebeiner, where he met Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and some young athletes training at the venues.

Back in Lausanne, on 21 June, President Rogge met the IOC members elected in July 2011, José Perurena, Gerardo Werthein and Barbara Kendall. The next day, he received IOC member Samih Moudallal and International Hockey Federation (FIH) President Leandro Negre, accompanied by FIH Secretary General Kelly Fairweather. He later attended the Finance Commission meeting, chaired by Richard Carrión, and the IOC-Olympic Capital meeting, before taking part in the Olympic Day celebrations.

MEMBERS
Julio César Maglione has been awarded the Grand Chain of the South American Order of Merit, the South American Sports Organisation (ODESUR)’s highest distinction. He was presented with this by the ODESUR President and IOC member, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, at the ODESUR General Assembly in Santiago (Chile).

Ser Miang Ng will shortly be standing down as Singapore’s Ambassador to Hungary after 12 years of service. In recognition of his important role in developing relations between the two countries, he will be receiving one of Hungary’s most prestigious decorations.

COMMISSIONS
This week in Vidy, the following IOC commissions have held meetings: Marketing, Sport for All, Finance, Philately and Numismatics and Memorabilia, as well as the Audit Committee.

An IOC delegation has been at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held from 20 to 22 June in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). For this occasion, the IOC’s Sport and Environment Commission has produced a new publication entitled “Sustainability through Sport: Implementing the Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21”, which summarises the progress made over the last 20 years in the area of sustainable development, particularly in terms of environmental protection, education and socio-economic development.

The 8th IOC World Conference on Sport, Education and Culture will be held from 25 to 27 November 2012 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). This event is being organised by the IOC’s Commission for Culture and Olympic Education, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and in collaboration with the Dutch NOC. The delegates will review policies, exchange on best practice and identify future action in the field of sport, education and culture. Also at the Conference, the winners of the IOC’s fourth “Art and Sport Contest will receive their medals.

During the Olympic Philately, Numismatics and Memorabilia Commission meeting in Lausanne, the names of the winners of the inaugural Juan Antonio Samaranch Medal for Olympic Collecting were announced. The award was introduced by the IOC this year to honour the legacy of former IOC President Samaranch, an avid Olympic collector who introduced programmes to encourage the collection and study of Olympic stamps, coins and memorabilia during his time in office. The medals were presented to the winners by IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, son of the late President Samaranch, on 22 June.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has just launched a new web site devoted to 3x3 basketball:http://www.3x3planet.com. The site is intended to connect players and tournament organisers worldwide. In addition, FIBA celebrated its 80th anniversary on 18 June.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has announced the death, at the age of 92, of Susi Urzynicok from Germany, an FIG honorary member since 1976. For many years, Susi Urzynicok worked to develop women’sartistic gymnastics around the world. The FIG has also announced the death of Switzerland’s Nicole Delaloye-Maye, at the age of 56. A member of the national team, she was Swiss champion in 1974 and competed in several world championships. After her competition career, she joined the FIG’s international judges’ college, and took part in the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

At the International Junior Competition in Suhl (Germany), the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) presented its “Run & Shoot” event, a new Sport for All competition format. The aim is to pursue the goals of the IOC’s Sport for All Commission by promoting regular physical activity for its health and social benefits. “Run & Shoot” is an easy-to-access shooting sport event which combines running with air rifle target shooting, and requires no special equipment.

WINTER IFS
The 54th Ordinary Congress of the International Skating Union (ISU) concluded on 15 June in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). More than 200 delegates representing 76 ISU member federations attended. Opened by ISU President and IOC member Ottavio Cinquanta, the Congress took a number of decisions listed on http://www.isu.org. The next Congress will be held in June 2014 in Dublin (Ireland).

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
On 17 June, the Spanish NOC, in collaboration with the city of Madrid, celebrated Olympic Day in the Madrid Río Park. A large number of children and adults took part in the various sports competitions under the theme of “play fair”. Also attending were NOC President Alejandro Blanco and several Olympic medallists, including Joan Lino, Rafa Lozano, María Peláez, Muriel Bujalance, Montse Puche, Silvia Fernández and Carlos Alonso.

The Guatemalan NOC recently informed us of the creation of the Friends of Olympic Sport Foundation (Fundación de Amigos del Deporte Olímpico - FADO), the aim of which is to foster the development of Olympic sport in Guatemala, in close collaboration with the NOC. The Foundation will offer extra financial assistance to the athletes who have qualified for the Games, to help them prepare for the competition.

On 12 June, the Italian NOC (CONI) held an international seminar on “training during the evolutionary age”, which brought together numerous Italian participants, 24 international representatives and the President of the International Mediterranean Games Committee, Amar Addadi. In his welcome speech, CONI President Giovanni Petrucci stressed the importance of these meetings and discussions for the future of Italian sport. CONI Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi then stressed the need to work with talented young athletes and put in place future projects before the end of the Olympic cycle. The same day, a sports technical cooperation agreement was signed between CONI and the Libyan NOC for the next four years. Those present included the Libyan NOC President, Nabil Al Alem, and the Secretary General, Marwan Maghur, as well as Raffaele Pagnozzi and Amar Addadi. The aim of the agreement is to facilitate the exchange of athletes and technicians for major sports events.

The Uzbek NOC informs us that Olympic Day was celebrated on 3 June in Tashkent, with its focus on the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London. Some 1,200 people took part in the 0.3-mile, 0.5-mile and 1-mile events as part of the preliminary competitions all over the country, then in the finals held in the Alisher Navoi National Park. The youngest competitors ran a 50m course, with disabled participants covering 0.3 miles. The winners received their prizes and gifts from Uzbek officials and athletes.

The Peruvian NOC informs us that Spanish NOC President Alejandro Blanco has given a talk on “modern sports development” to representatives of the 11 NOCs of the region, sports federations, universities, local authorities and the Bolivarian Sports Organisation (ODEBO). Held at Miraflores, the event was led by the Peruvian NOC President, José Quiñones González; the President of the Peruvian Sports Institute, Francisco Boza; the Mayor of Miraflores, Jorge Muñoz Wells; IOC member in Peru Ivan Dibos; and the ODEBO President, Danilo Carrera Drouet. Spain’s experience of successfully hosting the 1992 Games in Barcelona and the country’s major sporting transformation were the reasons for Alejandro Blanco’s participation.

The legendary Czech gymnast, Vera Caslavska, the heroine of the 1964 Games in Tokyo and the 1968 Games in Mexico City and winner of 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, has received the Slovak NOC’s highest distinction. She was presented with the NOC Trophy by NOC President Frantisek Chmelar on 1 June, at the opening ceremony of the 25th edition of the Gym Festival in Trnava. FIG Honorary President Yuri Titov and the Slovak minister responsible for sport, Dusan Caplovic, were also present. Vera Caslavska, who celebrated her 70th birthday in May this year, was President of the Czech NOC from 1990 to 1992.

ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES
LONDON 2012
The culmination of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the London 2012 Festival got underway on 21 June. For 12 weeks, the UK will be celebrating the largest nationwide cultural festival ever staged. Some 12,000 performances and events given by 25,000 artists from 205 countries will be held in 900 venues.

RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has launched a new digital library designed to make WADA’s education and information tools more accessible to its stakeholders. The library can be accessed by going tohttp://bibliotheque.wada-ama.org. WADA has also completed and published its 2011 Annual Report. The document is available in e-format and PDF format at http://www.wada-ama.org.

The International Academy of Sports Science and Technology (AISTS) has created a new scholarship for its Master of Sports Administration course in Lausanne. The AISTS Athlete Scholarship will be exclusively for elite athletes. The deadline for applications is 15 August 2012.

London 2012 Highlights of the Week

IOC Announces Olympic Highlights of the Week

On 28 March, IOC President Jacques Rogge met British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London to talk about the progress of preparations for the 2012 Games.

(PRWEB) April 02, 2012

IOC ACTIVITIES
PRESIDENT
On 28 March, IOC President Jacques Rogge met British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London to talk about the progress of preparations for the 2012 Games. Other attendees at the meeting were IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald; Organising Committee (LOCOG) Chairman Sebastian Coe; Secretaries of State Jeremy Hunt, Theresa May and Justine Greening; Sir Philip Craven, the President of the International Paralympic Committee; the IOC’s Olympic Games Executive Director, Gilbert Felli; and LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton.

MEMBERS
Ching-Kuo Wu, who is also President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), has received the Order of the Polar Star - the highest civilian award Mongolia can present to international leaders. Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia) presented this award to Ching-Kuo Wu in recognition of his important contribution to the development of boxing and promoting the Olympic ideals around the world. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Palace in Ulaanbaatar.

COMMISSIONS
With four months to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games, the IOC Coordination Commission paid its final visit to the host city from 28 to 30 March. Led by its Chairman, Denis Oswald, the Commission met LOCOG and representatives from the government and local authorities to discuss progress and final preparations as the countdown to the Opening Ceremony on 27 July gathers pace.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has announced the death of Giorgio Garufi, former Vice-President of the FIG Gymnastics for All Committee. Garufi was Vice-President of the Italian Gymnastics Federation for 25 years. He was also a men’s artistic gymnastics judge at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, five World Championships and numerous major international competitions.

From 12 to 15 April in Tokyo (Japan), the 10th International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Swimming Officials Seminar will bring together 111 participants from 58 member federations. Organised in cooperation with the Japan Swimming Federation, the main aim of the seminar is to provide an opportunity for swimming officials from around the world to exchange knowledge and strengthen expertise in respect of both FINA Swimming Rules and practice at international competitions.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced that the Bulgarian Tennis Federation will host the fourth ITF Beach Tennis World Championships from 21 to 24 June. The best men’s and women’s doubles pairs from around the world will be competing in the Black Sea resort of Bourgas.

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced that the candidates for the FIVB Presidential and FIVB Board of Administration minority gender elections have been unanimously approved by the FIVB Board of Administration. These elections will take place at the FIVB Congress in September in Anaheim (USA) from 19 to 21 September. The current FIVB President, Jizhong Wei, will not be seeking re-election.

RECOGNISED IFS
The International Basque Pelota Federation (FIVP) has just created an Athletes’ Committee. This Committee is composed of six players who competed in the most recent World Championships in Pau (France) and previous World Cups.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
We have just learnt that, as part of the events to mark International Women’s Day, the Albanian NOC’s Women and Sport Commission organised a round table on “Physical and Social Impacts of Sport in the Lives of Albanian Women”. The topics addressed included the Declaration of the 5th World Conference on Women and Sport in Los Angeles last February, a brief history of women’s participation in the Olympic Games and the role of female managers in Albanian sport. Sports activities were also organised for the participants.

The Women and Sport Commission of the Barbados Olympic Association also celebrated International Women’s Day by holding a special event at the Barbados Olympic Centre. Under the theme of “Connecting girls, Inspiring Futures - Through Sports”, this event celebrated the achievements of young women in sport. Thirty-four young girls were awarded certificates honouring them for their achievement and excellence in their sport. The programme also included cheerleading demonstrations and a Zumba dance session.

The Chilean NOC is hosting the second module of the Olympic Solidarity MEMOS (Executive Masters in Sports Organisation Management) programme. From 24 March to 4 April, representatives from 17 countries will be addressing the following topics: managing sports events, managing human resources in sports organisations, research methodology and data analysis, the values of sport, sports organisations in modern society and women in decision-making positions.

On 27 March, the Colombian NOC organised the first of four events entitled “100 athletes in London, the home straight” (“100 atletas a Londres, la recta final”). On this occasion, the official jacket to be worn by the Colombian team in London was presented. Various personalities were present, including the representative of the British ambassador, Tony Regan; NOC President Baltazar Medina; the Director of Coldeportes, Andres Botero; and athletes Paulo Villar and Angélica Hernández, who showed off the new jackets.

The Spanish NOC’s Olympic Federations Council has approved the choice of Cayetano Cornet as Chef de Mission for the Spanish team at the Games in London. This will be the fourth time that Cornet has performed this function, after Turin, Beijing and Vancouver. He was also Chef de Mission for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and Innsbruck. For his part, NOC President Alejandro Blanco has just been named Honorary President of the Spanish Olympians Association, which has around 600 members.

On 3 April, the French NOC will be holding its second “Sport and International Relations” conference on the theme of lobbying. Those attending will include the President of the International Rugby Board (IRB), Bernard Lapasset, and the Secretary General of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) and World Olympians Association (WOA) President, Joël Bouzou.

The 11 surviving members of the Irish team which took part in the 1948 Games in London have been honoured by the Irish NOC. A lunch in their honour was held at Farmleigh House, the Irish State Government House. Six of the team were there, and the other five were represented by family members. NOC President Patrick Hickey, presented them with Olympic Medals of Honour.

Dick Fosbury, the legendary high jump champion at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, was the Israeli NOC’s guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Wingate Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences. This Congress marked the 20th anniversary of Israel’s first Olympic medal. The personalities present included NOC President Zvi Varshaviak and Yael Arad, Israel’s first Olympic medallist (silver in Barcelona in 1992). Coinciding with this Congress, the NOC hosted the annual meeting of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Olympic Games Commission, chaired by Efraim Zinger, NOC Secretary General and a member of the EOC Executive Board.

26 March saw the 1,000th meeting of the Italian NOC (CONI)’s Executive Committee. On this occasion, CONI President Giovanni Petrucci recalled the history of the Committee and reported on his meetings with Sports Minister Piero Gnudi on the reorganisation of territorial structures and the launch of the “White Book of Sport” project. On the following day, there was a general meeting with the national federations of the sports at the Games in London. CONI Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi gave an update on the athletes who have qualified for the Games and the technical and organisational arrangements for the Italian team.

The Secretary General of the Mongolian NOC, Jugder Otgontsagaan, has become the first Mongolian sports leader to be appointed to an IOC commission, in this case the Sport and Environment Commission. He was warmly congratulated on this appointment at a ceremony attended by NOC President Demchigjav Zagdsuren; the Chairman of the Physical Education and Sports Authority, Ch. Naranbaatar; IOC honorary member Shagdarjav Magvan; and the Minister for the Environment, D. Tsogtbaatar. Jugder Otgontsagaan joined the Olympic Movement in 1990 as a sports journalist and has twice been appointed NOC Secretary General. He is also a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)’s Media and Coordination committees.

RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced two major initiatives that will take place during the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Between 6 and 8 September, the IPC Academy Inclusion Summit will bring together business leaders, governments and the Paralympic Movement to discuss inclusion and accessibility's impact on society. The other initiative is the “Games Experience Programme”, taking place between 3 and 5 September. This will give governments from around the world and those involved in the Paralympic Games supply chain a greater understanding of the complexities involved in delivering these Games. The IPC has also joined forces with the FC Barcelona Foundation to launch “We are what we do, we are what we achieve”, a campaign to provide teachers with the tools required to adapt physical education classes so children with disabilities can participate in sport on the same level as their classmates.

For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team.