Olympic Highlights 16/02/2023
IOC ACTIVITIES
PRESIDENT
IOC President Thomas Bach was in Courchevel/Meribel last weekend for the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. He was welcomed by the President of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Johan Eliasch, who accompanied him throughout the weekend.
Saturday saw the world's best women skiers contest the Downhill. The race was won by Swiss skier Jasmine Flury, with Austria’s Nina Orlieb and another Swiss, Corinne Suter, also on the podium. After the race President Bach congratulated all three and praised Suter on her performance after a very bad crash just a few weeks ago.
He also had a chance to meet Kenyan skier Sabrina Simader, known as the “Snow Leopard”, who took part in the Youth Olympic Games Lillehammer 2016 and the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. He also met many other athletes who took part in the World Championships.
Later, President Bach had a meeting with Brigitte Henriques, President of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF). They discussed the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024.
After a dinner with FIS Council members and members of the World Championships Organising Committee, on Sunday the President once again joined President Eliasch at the finish of the Men's Downhill. The race was won by another Swiss skier, Marco Odermatt, who was crowned world champion. He was joined on the podium by Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway and, in third, Cameron Alexander from Canada.
Also present at the event was IOC Member and Chair of the IOC’s Sustainability and Legacy Commission, Prince Albert of Monaco.
President Bach spoke with the Presidents of the NOCs of Türkiye and Syria, to whom he expressed his deep sympathy for the victims and families affected by the earthquake that has struck the south-eastern region of Türkiye and Syria. They also discussed how best to support the members of the Olympic community in the two countries. More details about the emergency fund set up under “Other Olympic news”.
At Olympic House, the President received Tayyab Ikram for his first official visit as President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). During their meeting, they addressed a number of Olympic topics, including the preparations for the hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
The preparations for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 as well as the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement were the main subjects discussed during the President’s meeting with the President of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Thomas Konietzko.
The IOC President and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) President Petra Sörling talked about the preparations for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
President Bach also held a meeting with the President of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), Marco Scolaris. The two leaders discussed the next editions of Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
With IOC Member and World Rowing President Jean-Christophe Rolland, the President spoke about the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
Earlier, President Bach and the President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), Francesco Ricci Bitti, discussed the upcoming editions of the Olympic Games, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
President Thomas Bach welcomed the newly appointed Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland, Fujiyama Yoshinori, accompanied by IOC Member and Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita, on a courtesy visit. Discussions centred around Japan’s interest in hosting future Olympic Games in the context of Olympic Agenda 2020+5 and the IOC’s new approach to electing future Olympic hosts. The international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement were also discussed.
At Olympic House, President Bach welcomed the President of the Australian Olympic Committee, Ian Chesterman, accompanied by his predecessor, IOC Vice President John Coates. Together they discussed the preparations for the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
The President of the NOC of Kazakhstan, Timur Kulibayev paid a visit to President Bach. During the meeting, the IOC President congratulated the NOC on the 30th anniversary of its recognition by the IOC, and wished it all the best in its preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games. The international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement were also discussed.
President Bach also met the President of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, Liz Dawson, who was accompanied by the Secretary General, Nicki Nicol. The topics discussed included the preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
At Olympic House, President Bach met the members of the Vaud Council of State, chaired by Christelle Luisier Brodard, who is also Head of the Department of the Institutions, Territorial Affairs and Sport. The excellent partnership between the Canton of Vaud and the IOC, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement were among the topics discussed. During their visit to the IOC, all the Councillors of State signed the IOC’s “Golden Book”.
Preparations for the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 were the focus of a telephone conversation between the President and IOC Members Hong Zhang and Gunilla Lindberg, respectively the Chair and a member of the IOC Coordination Commission for these Games. They were both on site for the third meeting of the Commission. (See also under “Commissions”.)
With IOC Member and Korean NOC President Kee-Heung Lee, President Bach discussed the preparations for the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024, the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
The President welcomed José Luis Marco, a permanent member of the Argentinean NOC’s Executive Board and a member of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024, during a courtesy visit to Olympic House.
The IOC President also held a virtual meeting with European Commission Vice-President Margarítis Schinás, and the EU Commissioner responsible for sport, Mariya Gabriel. They discussed the international situation and the position of the Olympic Movement.
The President held a telephone conversation with the President of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi. Their discussions focused on the geopolitical situation.
At the invitation of Lausanne Hockey Club (LHC), the IOC President attended an important match, with LHC looking to qualify for the National League pre-play-offs. The match saw LHC defeat HC Lugano by 4 to 0.
MEMBERS
IOC Member Pau Gasol has been named a FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Global Ambassador. The 2023 World Cup will be held in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia from 25 August to 10 September. Gasol played at three World Cups, five Olympic Games and seven FIBA EuroBaskets, before retiring after the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Full details here on the website of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
Commissions
From 7 to 9 February, the IOC Coordination Commission for the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024 met for the third time in the Republic of Korea, as preparations for next year’s YOG enter their final year. It was the first on-site meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gangwon 2024 was able to update the Coordination Commission on the significant progress it has made with Games planning. Over the course of three days, the Coordination Commission, chaired by IOC Member Hong Zhang, visited various YOG venues, most of which were used for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Read the full news release here.
OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
Following the devastating earthquake that recently hit Türkiye and Syria, the IOC, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) will donate a total of USD one million to help the Olympic community in the areas affected by the natural disaster. The IOC and OCA will each give USD 250,000, EOC will give EUR 250,000, while the ORF will make available an additional amount of USD 260,000 for immediate emergency assistance to the local population and refugees in Türkiye. Full news release here.
The IOC has announced that Nine Entertainment Co. (Nine) has been awarded the exclusive free and subscription audio-visual rights and non-exclusive audio rights to every Olympic Games from 2024 to 2032. Nine will bring the images and sounds of the Games to audiences like never before, harnessing the power of its diverse streaming, television, audio and digital platforms. Full news release here.
The IOC Olympic Studies Centre (OSC) has selected five projects for the 2023 PhD Students and Early Career Academics Research Grant Programme. Based on their academic quality, the five research projects were selected for the current edition of the programme, which aims to promote Olympic-related research with a humanities or social sciences perspective and to foster the development of future teachers in the various fields of Olympic studies around the world. The chosen candidates benefit from a grant which allows them to carry out their research project and, if relevant, to consult the OSC’s resources in Lausanne. The results of their research must be submitted to the OSC at the end of 2023. Full details here.
IOC Refugee Olympic Team member Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, has secured her first international competition win, at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Castellon, Spain. This victory also made her the first member of the Refugee Olympic Team to win an international race in athletics. Read about her career here.
Michel Daou, a triple Olympian (shooting) from Curaçao, recently received an OLY certificate and a personal letter from President Bach. Although terminally ill, Michel Daou (62) has shown resilience and perseverance fighting disease – an example of true sportsmanship, focus and courage. The honour of receiving the OLY pin and certificate from IOC Vice-President Nicole Hoevertsz and the letter from President Bach touched him deeply. This special moment was celebrated with his family, who all experienced the beauty of the Olympic dream together. The Olympic flame within Michel Daou will never cease to exist.
The IOC was saddened to learn of the death of Australian television executive Gary Fenton. Fenton was Chief Operating Officer for the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation and Executive Producer of the global telecast for the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, for which he received the IOC’s Golden Rings Award and the prestigious Podium d’Or Georges Bertellotti. A key figure in the Australian media industry, Fenton had decades of experience in programming, production and sports broadcasting, and played a crucial role in securing Seven's broadcast rights for multiple Olympic Games. He also served as a member of the IOC Radio & Television Commission and received an Order of Merit from the Australian Olympic Committee in recognition of his remarkable contribution to the Olympic Movement in Australia. Read here the tribute from Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS.)
Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura died on 10 February at the age of 91. He directed around 50 films, including “Cría cuervos” (“Raise Ravens”), which received the Cannes Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize Award in 1976. Saura also directed the Official Film of the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992, entitled “Marathon”.
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
International Canoe Federation
ICF President Thomas Konietzko paid an inspection visit to Dakar, host city of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2026. Konietzko met the YOG Organising Committee Coordinator General, Ibrahima Wade, and Ministry of Sport Secretary General Paul Dionne, to discuss progress ahead of the Games. The group also inspected the water sports venue at Saly, on the outskirts of Dakar, where canoeing will join rowing, sailing, beach handball and several other sports at the YOG. More info here.
Union Cycliste Internationale
The UCI Management Committee met on 2 and 3 February in Hoogerheide (Netherlands), on the sidelines of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, held from 3 to 5 February. At this meeting, the Committee awarded the 2023 UCI Pump Track World Championships to Neuquén, and approved the 2023 UCI World Cup calendars for trials and indoor cycling. Read the other decisions here.
World Aquatics
The World Aquatics Championships 2025 have been awarded to Singapore. These Championships bring together the six aquatic sports of swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open-water swimming and high diving. World Aquatics made the announcement on 9 February in presence of past, present and future top aquatics athletes. With the dates to be defined, the 2025 event will be staged in close cooperation with the Singapore Swimming Association and Sport Singapore, a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. Over 2,500 athletes are expected to take part, representing World Aquatics’ 209 national member federations. More details here.
World Rowing
World Rowing has decided to award the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships & Beach Sprint Finals to Barletta, Italy, replacing Sabaudia, Italy. It has also confirmed that the 2026 World Rowing Championships have been awarded to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Full details here.
World Sailing
World Sailing has announced that the 2023 edition of its annual women’s sailing festival, Steering the Course, will aim to introduce female sailors to the sport by highlighting the many different pathways and careers available in sailing. The announcement comes as the first-ever all-female Coaches Course, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, got underway, with 15 female coaches taking their next steps in their career on the water. More details here.
World Triathlon
The World Triathlon Multisport Championships will be taking place in Townsville, Australia, from 15 to 25 August 2024. The event will include 19 World Championship races across five different levels of athletes, including Age Group, Paratriathletes, Junior, Under 23 and Elites. It will see duathlon, long-distance triathlon, long-distance aquabike, aquathlon, cross triathlon and cross duathlon World Championship races organised together over the 12-day festival. More details here.
WINTER IFS
World Curling Federation
The World Curling Federation Executive Board has filled the Board-appointed places on the Competition and Rules Commission. In addition, the Board has also confirmed the creation of two new working groups — the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Sustainability committees. More info here.
NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
Colombian NOC
At the beginning of February, the Colombian Sports Journalists Association (Acord) presented its annual prizes, including for the best athletes and sports leaders. Weightlifter Jenny Álvarez, skater Brayan Carreño and Paralympic swimmer Carlos Serrano were voted athletes of the year 2022. For his part, NOC President Ciro Solano Hurtado was awarded the excellence prize for his leadership and engagement. More details here.
NOC of the Dominican Republic
On 8 February, NOC President Garibaldy Bautista and Sports Minister Francisco Camacho took part in a tribute ceremony to mark the NOC’s 61st anniversary and the Month of the Nation. The ceremony was also attended by numerous federation presidents, club leaders and athletes. The NOC was created on 15 February 1962. More details here.
Hellenic Olympic Committee
Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) President and IOC member Spyros Capralos met the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Hellenic Republic, Anar Huseynov. They discussed the development of sports relationships between Greece and Azerbaijan. The Ambassador referred to the HOC President’s contribution to the development of sport and the Olympic ideal in his country, through the organisation of the 1st European Games in Baku in 2015, when Capralos headed the European Olympic Committees’ Coordination Commission for these Games. More info here.
Lithuanian NOC (LNOC)
New Miracle, an international project on women’s leadership in sport, is continuing. The first international workshop took place at the beginning of February in Bratislava (Slovakia), with 26 participants from Lithuania, Latvia, Italy and Slovakia. The main topic was good governance, and the keynote presentation was given by IOC Member Danka Barteková who talked about the IOC’s practice. The New Miracle project is a unique LNOC initiative joined by four other European NOCs (Italy, Latvia, Estonia and Slovakia). The second international workshop will take place in Riga, Latvia, from 23 to 25 April. Full details here.
Moroccan NOC
The Moroccan NOC organised a teambuilding event for its operations team at the end of January. The CNOM was accompanied by two certified coaches, who led workshops and various fun activities focusing on basic management concepts, with a view to developing team spirit and strengthening the internal solidarity and motivation of the team. More details here. In addition, in the framework of its support to future sports management diploma-holders, the NOC welcomed young students for an internship starting on 1 February 2023. These interns are studying for their master’s degree at schools and universities specialising in sports organisation management.
Venezuelan NOC
On 7 February, the NOC signed a medical assistance agreement with Grupo Nueve Once. This agreement will benefit athletes, coaches and sports leaders. Grupo Nueve Once is part of the “Agents of Change” programme run by the NOC since 2021 to support the entities that contribute to the development of Venezuela through health promotion.
ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES
PARIS 2024
The spring of 2024 will see the Olympic flame arrive in the south of France, in the city of Marseille, where it will begin its journey through the host country, culminating in its arrival in the capital to light the Olympic cauldron and mark the beginning of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Following its lighting at a ceremony in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic flame will leave Athens and travel across the Mediterranean Sea on the Belem, a majestic three-masted sailing ship, before arriving on French soil at the famous Old Port of Marseille, the starting point for the Olympic Torch Relay. With Marseille confirmed as the official starting point for the Relay in France, Paris 2024 also announced that the full route of the Relay, which will journey throughout the country over several weeks, will be revealed in May 2023. Full news release here and also here on the Paris 2024 website.
On 8 February, Paris 2024 unveiled the Look of the Games and the pictograms of the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. The look highlights elegance, creativity and the “French art de vivre”, and conveys the innovative and bold ambition of Paris 2024. These pictograms will appear for the first time in mid-February on the Olympic Games ticketing website during the sale of “Make Your Games” packs. Full info here.
RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS
Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA)
ANOCA has devoted the February 2023 edition of its Newsletter to the 39th African NOC Secretaries General Seminar held on 12 and 13 November in Freetown (Sierra Leone). The Seminar focused on implementing the futuristic vision of more effective sports governance led by ANOCA.
Organización Deportiva Suramericana (ODESUR)
The fourth module of the first ODESUR virtual finance workshop was organised recently. This is an initiative and a space for the exchange of ideas and best practices among NOC members in order to provide tools and contribute to development in terms of administration and finance. ODESUR President and IOC Member Camilo Pérez López Moreira gave the welcome remarks to the participants. Info at www.odesur.org.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
As part of WADA’s strategic priority to work with and unite stakeholders, WADA President Witold Bańka and Director General Olivier Niggli have been in South America to meet a number of key anti-doping partners and government officials from Brazil and Argentina. Full details here and here on the Argentinean NOC’s website.