Looking ahead to empower women and girls through sport

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

©IOC

13/03/2015

International Women’s Day may be over, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s efforts to foster gender equality through sport are very much ongoing.

Today, Chair of the IOC Women and Sport Commission Lydia Nsekera will speak at the United Nations (UN) 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York. Convening since 9 March, and in light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be agreed on this year, the Commission is reviewing the progress made since the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
Adopted at the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing+20) in 1995, this “blueprint” became a crucial milestone to advance women’s rights and to advocate sport. It recognised sport and physical education as a tool to promote women’s health, to fight discrimination and to empower women and girls.
The Olympic Movement, which reaches millions of people of all ages across the five continents, has contributed significantly to this field. In the build-up to the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as on the 20th anniversary of Beijing+20 coinciding with 20 years since the establishment of the IOC Women and Sport Commission, the IOC is eager to demonstrate the value of sport in various arenas of civil society, and support Beijing+20’s call to “Step it up” for gender equality.

The importance of partnership

Looking ahead, the IOC will join UN Women on 16 March to co-host a side event to explore how sport can benefit girls and women within this post-2015 agenda. It will be a unique opportunity to bring together Member States, UN agencies, NGOs, civil society and representatives from the world of sport to position sport as an important tool to promote and achieve gender equality.
This gathering will also allow the various parties to explore the tremendous potential for joint initiatives aimed at empowering girls and women through sport.

Striving for equal access and opportunity

Fostering gender equality and strengthening women’s participation in and through sport is one of the key missions of the IOC. Over the years, we have observed that women’s participation in the world of Olympic sport has grown steadily thanks to the IOC’s constant action, in cooperation with International Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
With the adoption in December 2014 of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, the IOC reaffirmed its commitment to work with IFs and NOCs as well as various regional, national and international platforms, such as the UN and UN Women, to increase the possibilities for girls and women in sport and to achieve the goal of female athletes representing 50 per cent of the athletes taking part in the Olympic Games.

Share

IOC Announces Toyota as TOP Partner to 2024

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

©IOC/Ian Jones (6)

13/03/2015

The IOC today announced that Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) will join The Olympic Partner (TOP) Programme.

The IOC and Toyota have reached an agreement through to 2024 in the mobility category, which includes vehicles, mobility services and mobility solutions.
The announcement was made in the 2020 Olympic Games host city Tokyo today by IOC President Thomas Bach and Toyota President Akio Toyoda.
In line with Olympic Agenda 2020, with sustainability as one of its key pillars, Toyota will work with the Organising Committees through to 2024 to provide sustainable mobility solutions for the Games to help with safer, more efficient mobility, including intelligent transport systems, urban traffic systems and vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. The partnership will help deliver a mobility legacy in the host cities and countries.
IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This is a very symbolic day. It is the first time in the successful history of the TOP programme that we have had a mobility category. It is in the spirit of the Olympic Agenda 2020 not just in terms of innovation but also in terms of sustainability in mobility. Toyota is the world leader in its field and this partnership signifies a strong commitment to the future of the IOC and the Olympic Movement. Toyota and the IOC share the same values and we welcome Toyota Motor Corporation to the Olympic family.”

Toyota President Akio Toyoda commented as follows: “We will do everything possible to fulfil our new role in The Olympic Partner Programme and to justify the trust that the IOC has placed in us. The addition of the mobility category to The Olympic Partner Programme is important recognition for our entire industry. Under this Olympic flag, let us today reaffirm the power of sport to bring people together. Let us dedicate ourselves to creating a better world by promoting sport in the Olympic spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play.”
Toyota will also support the entire Olympic Movement through funding and a global promotional reach. Under the IOC’s management, the TOP Programme supports the National Olympic Committees and the Organising Committees, helping ensure that the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement are truly global. The IOC redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.25 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world. Toyota will also bring significant expertise to the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and further support the excellent progress it has already made. The Tokyo 2020 team, under the leadership of President Mori, has already embraced the philosophy of Olympic Agenda 2020 and the importance of sustainability. The excellent collaboration between the IOC and Tokyo 2020 has already resulted in savings of USD 1 billion from the revised construction budget, following the IOC’s approval of three venue changes to the master plan for the Games.
Tsunekazu Takeda, the IOC’s Marketing Commission Chairman, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and Vice-President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, said: “This agreement is a powerful indication of the strength of the Olympic brand globally and the appeal of an association with the Olympic Movement. Long-term partnerships are the backbone of our commercial programmes and they enable the financial security of the entire Olympic Movement. Toyota will become our 12th TOP Partner and the third company to have already committed through to 2024.”
Toyota will join the TOP Programme in 2017 (TOP IX), but will have marketing rights in Japan with immediate effect. The agreement covers all relevant Toyota brands within the category, including Toyota, Lexus and Scion.
As a TOP Partner, Toyota will support the organisers of future Olympic Games, the IOC and National Olympic Committees and their Olympic teams around the world.
In Tokyo, the IOC President Thomas Bach and the Chairman of the IOC Marketing Commission Tsunekazu Takeda visited the Toyota City Mega Web exhibition which showcases the latest cutting-edge products that will form part of Toyota’s sustainable mobility solutions. They had the opportunity to test drive some of the vehicles, including the Mirai, Toyota’s new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle; the three wheeled, electric powered i-ROAD; and the Winglet, Toyota’s personal transport assistance robot.



The President also met Japanese racing driver Takayuki Kinoshita and took the opportunity to drive with him in a Lexus LFA supercar.

Olympic Agenda 2020 - Changes to the IOC Administration

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

11/03/2015

As part of the on-going implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 there will be a number of changes to the IOC Administration.

Pere Miro will become Deputy Director General for Relations with the Olympic Movement.  His new duties will include assisting the President and the Director General in strengthening relations with the Olympic Movement and providing strategic counsel to the President and Director General. He will also take on a coordinating role and overall view of all subsidies given from the IOC to the Olympic Movement.  Pere Miro will continue in his duties as Director for both for Olympic Solidarity and the NOCs Relations Department.
The Director of Communications, Mark Adams, presented a new plan for strategic communications with the aim of linking the power of the Olympic Rings and the Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee.  The strategy would also aim to amplify the IOC’s central purpose of putting sport at the service of humanity.  In this context, Mr Adams’ role will evolve to giving closer support to the President in the day to day execution of his duties and as Presidential spokesman.  As a consequence the structure of the Communications department will be looked at with the plan to strengthen strategic and brand communication.
Work on the organisational structure of the Olympic Channel is well advanced. The management structure of the company was agreed. Hiring of key management positions on the channel will now go ahead both for the Madrid operations and in Lausanne for IOC TMS
The International Cooperation and Development Department will also undergo some changes in function and will be renamed the Department for Social Development through Sport and Public Affairs.  A Department for Corporate Development, Brand and Sustainability will be set up under Marie Sallois Dembreville who will become a director.
In the area of ethics and compliance a new position of Ethics and compliance officer will be assigned to Pâquerette Girard Zappelli.

Share

Olympic Movement mourns French athletes who died in tragic accident

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

10/03/2015

"We are shocked by this sad news. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of these great athletes who have left us.
With them, the world of sport and the Olympic family have lost three of their key members. They were all not only champions in their sport but also contributed greatly as role models.
The Olympic Movement mourns with their families and friends, their fellow athletes, the French National Olympic Committee and with France.
The Olympic flag will be flown at half-mast for three days at the IOC Headquarters to honour these great champions."
IOC President Thomas Bach

Share

Olympic Solidarity - Chasing The Dream

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

10/03/2015

Thanks to the IOC's Olympic Solidarity programme, athletes from all over the world are receiving the support they need to compete at the Olympic Games.

With less than two years to go until the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, athletes’ preparations are in full flow as they focus on preparing for the biggest sporting event on the planet. For many, their hopes of competing at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad – and potentially winning a medal – receive a huge boost from the support of Olympic Solidarity.
Ever since 1962, when the Committee for International Olympic Aid was formed to assist newly independent countries, the IOC has been working hand-in-hand with the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to provide support to athletes around the world. In 1981, the Olympic Solidarity Commission was established, with a new strategy to assist the NOCs, and has been providing invaluable support over the past three decades. Through a variety of targeted programmes designed to meet the NOCs’ needs, Olympic Solidarity aims to help them develop and expand sports  in their respective countries and territories.
Today, Olympic Solidarity manages a quadrennial plan, distributing funds generated from the NOCs’ share of the revenue from the broadcast rights from the Olympic Games. For the 2013-2016 plan, Olympic Solidarity is responsible for a global budget of USD 438 million, an increase of USD 127 million from the 2009-2012 budget. Seventy per cent of these funds are divided between two main programmes – World Programmes and Continental Programmes – while  the remaining portion of the budget is allocated to Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) programmes, Olympic Games subsidies and complementary programmes.
There are 17 World Programmes in all, separated into four sections to support athletes, coaches, NOC management and the promotion of Olympic values. The Continental Programmes managed by the five Continental Associations – for which the budget has increased by 30 per cent for the current quadrennial period – target the specific requirements of NOCs on each continent.
 
"I was able to just focus on my goal of becoming an olympic athlete", Kirsty Coventry, seven-time olympic medallist.
For those athletes and NOCs setting their sights on Rio 2016, the Olympic Scholarship programme provides significant assistance, with a total allocated budget of USD 22 million. Focusing in particular on those with the greatest need, the programme offers technical and financial support to a fixed number of elite athletes in their training and qualification preparations.
Zimbabwean swimmer and seven-time Olympic medallist Kirsty Coventry is one  of many athletes who have benefited from a scholarship. “Coming from a small NOC that doesn’t have a lot of finance, our sports weren’t funded very well,” explains Coventry, who is a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. “As a swimmer and as an athlete, you have to travel to different competitions in order to refine your competition technique and how you handle different situations – it’s such a vital part. So the scholarship came in and helped with that and it was amazing. I could suddenly go to three or four  different meets.”
The scholarships help athletes in many ways, from coaching and covering the travel costs for competitions, to medical and scientific support. These areas of support are aimed at helping the athletes achieve the programme’s primary objective: to qualify for the Olympic Games. “All those little things help take the pressure off an athlete and I was able to just focus on my goal of becoming an Olympic champion,” Coventry says.
Judging by the results of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Olympic Solidarity is achieving its goals. The Olympic Scholarship programme was introduced for the first time for a Winter Games at Vancouver in 2010. Four years later, a total budget of USD 10 million was allocated for Sochi. Individual scholarships were awarded to 66 NOCs, seven NOCs received tailor- made grants with individual scholarships, while another four NOCs were also given tailor-made grants. Of the 440 athletes who benefited from the programme, 273 – or 62 per cent – qualified for Sochi. Many went on to flourish on the biggest stage: between them, the scholarship holders won 17 medals, including seven golds, while 51 athletes received diplomas for recording 4th-8th place finishes.
Two of those gold medallists were twin sisters Vita and Valja Semerenko, who were part of Ukraine’s victorious women’s biathlon 4x6km relay team. “It is hard to underestimate the contribution of the Olympic Solidarity programme,” says Valja. “The figures prove it. For most participants it gives a chance to be prepared in high quality conditions and show the highest possible performance in such a tough competition as the Olympic Games.”
“The Olympic Solidarity programmes are very flexible and favourable for their participants,” adds Vita. “There is no doubt that the Olympic Solidarity scholarship played a significant role [in our success] – both in financial and psychological terms.”
Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz helped make history in Sochi, when she competed in the first ever women’s ski jumping event to take place at the Winter Games. She won a silver medal and credits the Solidarity programme with playing a vital part in her success.
“It helped to improve my training quality in a period when it could have been crucial,” she said. “It helped to pay for hotels and trips during summer time and we were able to host more training camps. We also added another coach to our team who specifically took care of our jumping equipment like
skis and suits.”
There was a similar success story at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing. Offering both technical and financial assistance, the Solidarity programme for the YOG helped 116 NOCs identify young athletes, and assisted 108 NOCs with the organisation of qualification events.

Olympic Solidarity has helped Valja Semerenko become Olympic champion.
Olympic Solidarity also awarded 361 preparation grants to promising qualified young athletes, including swimmer Marcelo Acosta from El Salvador. In the build-up to Nanjing, he used the grant to take part in a training programme in Florida and went on to win a silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle event.
Two other silver medallists who made the most of their opportunities were Dulguun Bolormaa from Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan judoka Rotislav Dashkov. Despite only taking up wrestling in 2010, Bolormaa has emerged as one of the sport’s brightest young stars and won silver in the women’s freestyle -46kg event. Dashkov, meanwhile, was invited to take part in the International Judo Federation’s youth training camp in Switzerland, thanks to the Olympic Solidarity identification programme. Following this experience he went on to win silver in Nanjing.
Whether competing at youth level, in Summer or Winter Games, all these athletes benefited from the Olympic Solidarity support. And if the performances of this Nanjing trio, the Semerenko twins and Iraschko-Stolz are anything to go by, there should be plenty more positive results in Rio in 2016.

Share

Let’s hear it for the ladies on International Women’s Day!

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

©IOC/Arnaud Meylan, Jason Evans

08/03/2015

Today is International Women’s Day, and we are celebrating the inspirational female athletes who demonstrate that sport, of all kinds and at all levels, is for girls and women, too!

At The Olympic Museum for a special weekend of events centred on International Women’s Day, Olympian and five-time World Boxing Champion Mary Kom took the time to answer some of our questions. As a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games London 2012 and the third Indian woman to win an individual medal at the Games, Kom has made a name for herself both inside and outside the ring as a fantastic athlete and an inspiration to countless girls and women in her country.

How and when did you get involved in boxing?Since childhood, I have always had an interest in sports, where I did well at school, and was also particularly interested in in martial arts. Seeing my performances, my teacher suggested I get into sports. I began with athletics but was then introduced to women’s boxing. Inspired by the success of Dingko Singh at the 1998 Asian Games, I decided to take up the sport in 2000.

What are people’s reactions when you say you are a boxer?It was a different story when I first started boxing. People were kind of shocked to learn I was boxing, as, those days, it was considered only a man’s game. I still remember how my own community would look at me. I was considered such an odd person. Even my own father was against this decision of mine. It took me days to convince him. But it is different now...

What advice would you give to girls or women interested in starting boxing?Girls, if you know you are gifted in boxing or if you really like it, just grab it with both hands and go for it. Boxing is not just a game, but has now become a good career that you could have. Besides contributing to being fit and healthy, it can earn you wealth, happiness, and recognition, and create new opportunities. But it does involve hard work, determination and faith. It is challenging as the competition is really tough these days, but not different for any other field.

Women’s boxing made its debut at the Olympic Games London 2012. What are your hopes for the future of women’s boxing, as well as your personal objectives?Women’s boxing is growing at a good pace. It has attracted many people and is being looked up to and appreciated. I would say it has got a very good future. It’s just the beginning, and it’s already shown some outstanding results.
As for myself, I am mentally prepared for Rio 2016. After a bronze at London, I am determined to change the colour of my medal. I will be at my best, and the rest is in the hands of God.

When you retire from the ring, would you like to continue working in the field of sport?Yes. I love boxing because it has given me almost everything. It changed me and my life. I know I’m going to miss it once I retire, so I want to commit myself fully to training and producing the next generation of champions and inspirational role models. This mission is already underway. I have my own boxing academy in Imphal, which I started in 2006. Once I retire, I am going to devote myself full time to training my students, sharing with them my skills and experiences in boxing.

Share

IOC statement on the creation of a special place for mourning in the Olympic Village

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

06/03/2015

In its commitment to strengthening support for athletes, the International Olympic Committee has agreed to create a mourning place within the Olympic Village during the period of the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. The chosen spot will allow athletes and all those in the Village to mourn those who have passed away, in a special and dignified way.

The Executive Board intends to inaugurate this mourning place with a special ceremony that will give the opportunity to remember, in particular, those people who have died at the Olympic Games.
It has also been decided to devote a moment during the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games to allow everybody in the stadium, as well as those watching at home, to remember loved ones who have passed away.
“We want to give the athletes and others in the Olympic Village the opportunity to express their mourning in a dignified way and in an environment where representatives of the whole world are living together peacefully under the same roof”, said IOC President Thomas Bach.
“The moment of reflection in the Closing Ceremony should act as a reminder that this is an important and solemn Olympic moment, but that life is about more”, he added.

• Tweet