IOC President in Dakar for the Summit of the French-speaking world

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29/11/2014

With only a few days until the opening in Monaco of the IOC Session, which is preparing to approve Olympic Agenda 2020 – the roadmap that will define the future of the Olympic Movement – IOC President Thomas Bach arrived in Dakar (Senegal), where the XV Summit of the French-speaking world opens today. It is the first time that an IOC President – as the only guest among some 40 heads of state and government – has attended this Summit, which is held every two years.

In parallel to the Summit, the IOC President will meet a number of heads of state and government present in Dakar in order to discuss the role that sport can play in society and the importance of the Olympic Movement in shaping an active youth and building lasting peace. The President will reaffirm the need for the IOC to maintain its independence while at the same time ensuring a continuous dialogue with the world's political leaders.
The President will take advantage of the event to award the highest Olympic distinction, the Olympic Order in gold, to the former President of the Republic of Senegal and current Secretary General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Abdou Diouf, who is nearing the end of his term of office. The President praised the work and commitment of Mr Diouf in promoting the French language within Olympism.

The XV Summit of the French-speaking world is taking place on Saturday and Sunday in the Senegalese capital, and will conclude with the election of a new Secretary General of the OIF.

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IOC and IFs team up to protect clean athletes

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27/11/2014

At a dedicated IOC Sports Integrity Workshop that took place in Lausanne on Wednesday, the IOC together with INTERPOL and both the Summer and Winter Olympic International Federations (IFs) looked into how best to protect sport from competition manipulation. Defending and protecting clean athletes is a top priority of the IOC and within Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, initiated by IOC President Thomas Bach and expected to be approved by the IOC full membership in Monaco on 8 and 9 December.

The event was co-organised by the IOC, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).
ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “In concluding today’s Workshop, ASOIF President Francesco Ricci-Bitti stated ‘Today’s Workshop, with the testimony provided by INTERPOL and the Tennis Integrity Unit, showed the complexity of the problem that sport is facing. The IOC, as the umbrella organisation for sport, has taken the lead to address this problem and we thank them for their dedication.”
17 IFs already signed up to new “IBIS” intelligence system At today’s workshop, the IOC presented IBIS, its Integrity Betting Intelligence System, to the IFs. IBIS has been designed to become the primary source of betting information for the Olympic Movement, and aims to step up the fight against manipulation and corruption linked to sports betting. All seven International Olympic Winter Federations signed up ahead of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, for which IBIS was operational for the first time and proved to be very successful. In view of the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, all 28 Olympic Summer Federations will have signed up to IBIS and will be integrated into the IOC’s intelligence system. Ten of them are already on board, with the latest additions being the sports of aquatics, badminton and boxing.  Football will continue to use its own monitoring system, but has already signed a partnership agreement with the IOC committing to a mutual exchange of information.
Permanent support system for IFsChristophe De Kepper, IOC Director General, said: “The high participation of IFs in today’s workshop and the great interest they have shown in joining IBIS is very encouraging. Clearly, the IFs have a major role to play when it comes to protecting their sports from competition manipulation, and today was another occasion for the IOC to give them the tools to do so. The IOC runs and finances IBIS which remains operational between editions of the Olympic Games. It is only logical for the IFs to take advantage of this opportunity and use IBIS at their major international events and other multisport events.”
Read the factsheet about IBIS here.
IOC-INTERPOL partnershipBesides the presentation of IBIS, the workshop also addressed the use of investigatory procedures and the education of the IFs’ stakeholders about the risk of competition manipulation. INTERPOL, which has worked in close partnership with the IOC for several years, explained the process of a criminal investigation and how it differs from a sports disciplinary one. The IOC strengthened its partnership with INTERPOL through an official Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this year, widening the scope of previous activities between the two organisations. The global implementation of activities will begin in January 2015 with joint initiatives planned in the field of training and awareness-raising for sports organisations and law enforcement agencies, including joint workshops and tailored training material.
Learn more about the IOC’s initiatives to protect clean athletes and to educate about the risk of competition manipulation here.

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Nine centres worldwide recognised as IOC Research Centres for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health

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©Getty

25/11/2014

Protecting athletes’ health and preventing injuries and illnesses in sport are top priorities for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its Medical Commission. Nine research centres from across the world have thus been named as IOC Research Centres for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health.

These centres are:

• Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention, Federation University Australia, Australia
• Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Calgary, Canada
• Institute of Sports Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark
• Yonsei University, Republic of Korea (South Korea)
• Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, VU University and Academic Medical Centre, Netherlands
• Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
• Aspetar, Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Qatar
• Clinical Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Group, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• London’s Institute for Sports, Exercise and Health (ISEH) and National Centre for Sports Exercise and Medicine (NCSEM), United Kingdom

Over the next four years, these centres will be tasked with researching, developing and implementing effective preventive and treatment methods for sports-related injuries and illnesses. They will receive financial support from the IOC and join an international network of expert scientists and clinicians in sports-injury and disease-prevention research.
“We are delighted to have appointed nine highly qualified centres from the four corners of the world to assist us with our mission,” commented IOC Medical Commission Chair and Executive Board member Dr Uğur Erdener. “These centres have all demonstrated that they are at the forefront of research in sports medicine and are committed to our shared goal of using knowledge and resources to ensure the athletes’ well-being so that sportsmen and women can perform at their best level with minimal risks to their health.”  
The IOC Head of Scientific Activities, Lars Engebretsen, added: “While athletes were previously active until they were 25, today they compete until they are 40 to 45 at a very high level. An injury to one of them is a major issue, so treatment and prevention have become all the more important.”
Since 2009, the IOC, under the leadership of its Medical Commission, has supported and partnered with established research centres from around the world which have demonstrated clinical, educational, and research expertise in the fields of sports medicine and elite sports to promote the athletes’ health through the prevention of injury and illness.  
Collaborating closely with the newly-appointed nine research centres, the IOC aims to further promote and protect the health of athletes by:

• Establishing long-term research programmes on injury and disease prevention (including underlying studies on epidemiology, risk factors, and mechanisms),
• Fostering collaborative relationships with individuals, institutions and organisations to improve athletes’ health,
• Implementing applied, ongoing and novel research and development within the framework and long-term strategy of the IOC,
• Setting up knowledge translation mechanisms to share scientific research results with the field throughout the Olympic Movement and sports community and to convert these results into concrete actions to protect the health of the athletes.

Learn more about the IOC Medical Commission
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, helping athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.

Say hello to the mascots of Rio 2016

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©RIO 2016

24/11/2014

The mascots for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games have said Oi! (hello!) to the world for the first time. Inspired by the fauna and flora of Brazil, the mascots feature various influences from pop culture, along with elements of animation and computer game characters.

The mascots blend fiction and reality and were both born on 2 October 2009, when Rio de Janeiro was elected to host the Games and the people’s great joy was felt by nature. It was from this energy that the mascots were created.
The Olympic mascot is a mixture of the different animals of Brazil. It lives its life by playing, jumping, running and smiling, and it can stretch and stretch and stretch itself, as much as it wants. As a mixture of Brazilian animals, it can also do the same things they can, like run faster, jump higher, and be stronger. It’s also able to imitate the voice of any animal, so it’s super communicative. 
The Olympic mascot plays all the Olympic sports and its favourite pastime is making new friends. Its best friend is the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games mascot. It lives in a tree-house, in the Tijuca Forest, from where it can see the whole city and plan animal adventures. The mascot’s mission is to spread joy throughout the world and celebrate the friendship that flourishes between people from all over the world at this super sports event.
The Paralympic mascot is a unique mixture of Brazilian flora. It is able to pull crazy objects out of his head of leaves in order to get out of any jam. It knows all the secrets of nature and understands that with creativity, intelligence and determination, we can achieve whatever we want. It plays all the Paralympic sports and loves samba and all kinds of Brazilian music. Its mission is to inspire everybody to use creativity and determination to always reach further and have fun.
After the mascots’ unveiling, a poll to decide their names was opened. Everyone can vote for their choice from a shortlist of three pairs of names, one for the Olympic mascot, the other for the Paralympic mascot, respectively. The name choices are Oba and Eba; Tiba Tuque and Esquindim; and Vinicius and Tom. People can vote at www.rio2016.com/mascots as well as on the Rio 2016 Twitter feed (@Rio2016). Both mascots will have their own website and profiles on social media.

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Beckie Scott: “An atmosphere of friendship and universal camaraderie”

21/11/2014

Canada’s Beckie Scott was the first North American female cross-country skier to step on to the Olympic podium, winning a gold medal in Salt Lake City in 2002 and a silver medal in Turin in 2006. She talks about her feelings in this new episode of our Words of Olympians video series.

Before being elected for eight years by her peers to the IOC Athletes’ Commission in
2006 in Turin, becoming a member of the Administration Board of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games Organising Committee (VANOC), then Chef de Mission of the Canadian team for the Innsbruck Youth Olympic Games in 2012, Beckie Scott was best female Canadian cross-country skier and the first North American to win an Olympic title in her sport. On 15 February 2002, at the Soldier Hollow venue at the Salt Lake City Games, she finished third in the 5km + 5km combined pursuit behind Russians Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina, who were later both disqualified for doping. Beckie thus received her gold medal at a moving ceremony, celebrated by hundreds of people in Vancouver in June 2004.
Recalling her step up to the third level of the podium in the mountains of Utah, Beckie said: “The best moment of all for me was after winning a medal in Salt Lake City, sharing that with my teammates and my friends and family who had come to watch. I think the moment of just being all together in that celebration was the most enjoyable and memorable. It’s a kind of hard feeling to describe, because it’s a very emotional moment, but it’s also a little bit magical. Because it’s a time you’ve been looking, and reaching and driving for, for so long… and to realise it is just amazing.”
Coached on the cross-country trails by a devoted father, Beckie Scott started competing at the age of 7, was a brilliant junior, then a serious contender at the World Cup, and won 17 medals in the sprint, pursuit and relay between 2001 and 2006 - the year she retired from competition - but also another Olympic medal. Indeed, she took silver in the team sprint at the Turin Games with Sara Renner.
A three-time Olympian, Beckie Scott recalls above all: “the atmosphere of friendship and universal camaraderie – it’s so many people from so many places all over the world, coming together to par-ticipate in a sporting  competition. And yes, it’s high level, and it’s very competitive; but there’s also this element of universal friendship; and it’s just such an enjoyable and joyful place to be!”

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European Olympic Committees and athletes gives ‘full support’ to Olympic Agenda 2020 – and welcome President Bach at EOC General Assembly in Baku

22/11/2014

EOC delegates today unanimously passed a resolution publically declaring ‘that they fully support Agenda 2020’. In the resolution the EOC Athletes’ Commission also ‘pledge their full support for Olympic Agenda 2020.’

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach joined representatives of 49 European NOCs in Baku this week for the 43rd General Assembly, outlining plans for Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement that will be debated and agreed in Monaco, December 8th and 9th.

The Azerbaijan capital is preparing to host the European Games in June next year. Baku 2015 will feature more than 6,000 athletes from the NOCs of Europe in 17 days of competition.

Complementing the EOC, President Bach said ‘the best illustration of the vitality and energy of the EOC is the first ever European Games. I am confident of their success.  You have the strong support from the Government , the national sports movement as well as the enthusiasm of the people.’

During the General Assembly, the President was awarded the EOC’s highest award the Order of Merit.

Accompanied by EOC President Patrick Hickey and IOC Director of NOC Relations Pere Miro, President Bach also met with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.  The two leaders discussed Olympic Agenda 2020 and the important role that sport can play in the positive development of society.  President Aliyev outlined his plans for the development of the nation including how sport will be used in this transformation.

On Thursday, President Bach was awarded an Honorary Doctor’s Degree by the Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Training and Sports.

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Second Tokyo 2020 Project Review comes to a close

©TOKYO 2020 - Shugo TAKEMI

19/11/2014

A little over a year after the election of Tokyo as the host city of the Olympic Games in 2020, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegation, led by the IOC’s Coordination Commission Chair John Coates and Deputy Chair Alex Gilady, has completed its second Project Review visit to the Japanese capital (18-19 November).

The delegation left Tokyo pleased with the advances being made in preparations, and was reassured with the progress of its venue master plan review, which is being conducted with a view to ensuring cost-effective investments for the Games and in the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020, to make Tokyo 2020’s concept as sustainable as possible.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, John Coates said, “Tokyo continues to make solid progress on its road to 2020. Under the leadership of President Mori and with the support of its government partners and civil society, particularly in the form of its “best of Japan” Advisory Meeting, Tokyo 2020 is laying the foundations of outstanding Olympic Games for the athletes and the fans.”
He continued, “We were also reassured by the close working relationships that Tokyo has been building with the International Federations, and are confident that the venue master plan review will deliver even more sustainable Games in 2020.”
Tokyo 2020 continues to work on its venue master plan review, but in a manner consistent with the principles of Olympic Agenda 2020, support has been received from the relevant International Federations for Tokyo 2020 to investigate alternative locations for some venues. These decisions will need to be finalised with the appropriate Federations and receive the approval of the IOC Executive Board before being fully confirmed.
Yoshiro Mori, President of The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said, “The second IOC –Tokyo 2020 Project Review was held over a two-day period, and I am delighted that together we were able to hold a series of intensive and extremely productive discussions. Our discussions included a wide range of items, including a review of the Games venue plans, the Games vision, personnel management and commercial matters. We are extremely grateful for the valuable advice offered by Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission, Mr John Coates, and all members of the IOC delegation. We will of course be incorporating this advice into the formulation of our Games Foundation Plan.”
He continued, “I would like to reiterate my fullest assurance that all members of our All-Japan team, made up of representatives from a broad cross-section of Japanese society, are determined to exert our utmost efforts to ensure the delivery of successful 2020 Games.”
The project review visit included a short venue tour and meetings relating to the foundation process of Games planning, including Tokyo’s vision, governance, sport, people management, finance, engagement and legacy. In addition, it was announced during the meeting that Tokyo has signed the Marketing Plan Agreement and is now open for business. The IOC delegation rounded off its visit to Japan by attending an event run by IOC TOP partner GE, which looked at how to deliver the best legacy possible for the Games and for Japan.
The Project Review meetings for Tokyo 2020 are technical visits to the future host city, which are attended by the Coordination Commission Chair and Deputy Chair and serve as interim updates between full Coordination Commission visits. Other Commission members, where appropriate, the Olympic Games Executive Director and members of the IOC administration also participate in Project Review meetings.

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