EOC Newsletter No. 207 November 2020 MESSAGE FROM THE EOC ACTING PRESIDENT Dear colleagues, Let me express my sincere gratitude to the 50 National Olympic Committees of Europe and the many valued partners of the European Olympic Committees for helping make our 49th General Assembly – the first held online – such a success. Tangible progress for the betterment of the future of the Olympic Movement on our continent was made at the Assembly. I was especially pleased with the tremendous support shown for the two amendments to the EOC Articles of Association, which serve to strengthen the functioning of the EOC leadership while bringing the Executive Committee in line with the gender equality targets set forth in the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020. The amendments will provide fresh energy to the EOC next spring, when elections for all Executive Board positions will be held at the 50th General Assembly in April in Greece. In addition to electing the next EOC President, our 50 ENOCs will also vote to ensure 30 percent gender representation on the ExCo, with a minimum of five members needing to be of each gender. This is a welcome step forward for our organisation and for sport in general across Europe. Details on the preparations for 2021 General Assembly will be worked out by the Executive Committee at our next meeting at the beginning of the new year and communicated to you in due course. Work on the development of the EOC’s Strategic Agenda 2030 is also progressing smoothly, ably led by ExCo Member Djordje Visacki. Agenda 2030 is aimed at identifying the challenges and ambitions of the EOC and our 50 ENOCs while defining clear objectives for the future of the Olympic Movement in Europe. As a result, we are counting on all of you to provide your input and ideas during the research and analysis phase over the next few months. As noted at the General Assembly, we continue to make good progress despite the pandemic in our preparations for the 3rd European Games Kraków & Małopolska 2023 and the European Youth Olympic Festivals scheduled for 2021, 2022 and 2023. We confirmed the appointment of Borjomi and Bakuriani (GEO) and Brno (CZE) as hosts of the 2025 winter and summer EYOF, respectively, and are looking forward to the unique flavours both bring to their editions of the Games. I would like to extend my appreciation to IOC President Thomas Bach for his message to the General Assembly and my congratulations to him for re-election next March. Under his leadership, the Olympic Movement will remain in strong and capable hands. For the vast majority of our ENOCs and partners, the General Assembly was a virtual affair, but on behalf of those of us gathered at the CONI headquarters, I would also like to thank President Giovanni Malagò and his NOC for hosting us and ensuring everything ran as smoothly as possible. Finally, I want to offer my appreciation to the EOC staff in Rome, whose excellent work behind the scenes helped make our first online General Assembly such a success. Best regards, Niels Nygaard EOC Acting President 1 EOC NEWSLETTER November 2020 EOC 50 NOCs of Europe meet online for 49th EOC General Assembly A number of important decisions concerning the future of the Olympic Movement in Europe were taken by the 49th General Assembly (GA) of the European Olympic Committees (EOC). The meeting, held online for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was organised by the EOC Head Office in Rome from the headquarters of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Italy (CONI) on 27 November 2020. The General Assembly began with a minute’s silence for former EOC President Janez Kocijančič, who passed away on 1 June this year. CONI President Giovanni Malagò provided a welcome address, followed by opening remarks from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and EOC Acting President Niels Nygaard. The IOC President spoke about how much the world had changed since he last addressed the General Assembly in 2019, but added that the Olympic Movement had used the pandemic as an opportunity to make sport more relevant than ever in society. “We seized the opportunity at the very beginning of the crisis to sign a cooperation agreement with the WHO that is widening the scope of our work together,” President Bach said. “We undertook many efforts on the political front to emphasise the important role of sport in this crisis, the important role of sport for physical and mental health.” EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi delivered a report on the activities of the EOC Office in Rome, taking the opportunity to introduce the idea of an EOC House at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and announcing that next year’s General Assembly in Greece would be advanced from October to April. During the GA, Acting President Nygaard and ExCo Member Spyros Capralos both announced their candidacies for the position of EOC President. The European NOCs voted overwhelmingly in favour of two changes to the EOC Articles of Association. The first amendment ensures that elections should be held at the next scheduled General Assembly at the latest “should the President or any Officer(s), or other elected member(s) of the Executive Committee” cease, for any reason, to hold office during their term of office. The amendment means that elections for the entire EOC Executive Committee will be held at next year’s General Assembly in Greece on 16 April. The second proposal, tabled by the Olympic Federation of Ireland, was aimed at aligning the EOC Executive Committee with Olympic Agenda 2020 proposals for gender parity in sport. From the next EOC elections onwards, a minimum of five of the elected 16 members on the EOC Executive Board must be of each gender, while procedures for such elections shall include provisions to ensure the minimum gender number is met. Read more 2 EOC NEWSLETTER November 2020 ExCo meets for ninth time of 2020 The EOC Executive Committee met for the ninth time of 2020 on 26 November, a day ahead of the 49th EOC General Assembly. Acting President Niels Nygaard opened the meeting with an overview of the EOC’s activities in the five weeks since the ExCo’s last gathering, which included discussions with the Polish hosts of the Kraków & Małapolska European Games in 2023, the European Union, EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, and the G20, which “value sport as an important accompaniment to what they want to do in the future,” Nygaard said. Coordination Commission Chair for the 2023 European Games Hasan Arat updated the Members on the steady progress being made for the third edition of the Games. This includes, in particular, the excellent work with regard to the sports programme for the third edition of the Games, with negotiations continuing between the EOC and roughly two dozen sports federations. ExCo Member Đjorđje Višacki presented an overview of the EOC’s Strategic Agenda 2030, whose mission is to develop and protect the Olympic Movement in Europe in accordance with the Olympic Charter, while leading Europe in the global delivery of elite sport and healthy lifestyles. Read more PIOTR NUROWSKI PRIZE EOC unveils new trophy The EOC has unveiled a new trophy for the Piotr Nurowski Prize (PNP), awarded to the best young European athlete of the year in both summer and winter sports. The newly designed trophy, which was presented during the 49th EOC General Assembly on 27 November, is parallelepiped in shape and is made of beechwood and crystal. The crystal symbolises purity, while the beechwood, the most popular broadleaf in Europe, is well-known for its outstanding growth potential, which indeed distinguishes the “Best European Young Athletes.” Eleonora Salerno, the Italian designer of the trophy, described its strong symbolism as “the metaphor of athletes’ pure souls, who want to reach the most shining stars, by starting off from their own land, tree and roots.” The new EOC icon combines land and stars, human and divine. It aims to be a tribute to the power of sport and the limitless opportunities for young athletes, who can achieve whatever they attempt. Find out more about the prize here. Read more 3 EOC NEWSLETTER November 2020 Italian biathlete Linda Zingerle is 2020 Winter Best European Young Athlete The 49th EOC General Assembly selected biathlete Linda Zingerle (ITA) as the winner of the 5th Winter Piotr Nurowski Prize. Zingerle won the award ahead of runner-up Lisa Hirner (AUT), Nordic combined; Matej Svancer (CZE), freestyle skiing; Gints Berzins (LAT), luge; and Jessica Degenhardt (GER), luge. “I am really happy, really surprised and really honoured,” Zingerle told the GA. “I would like to thank all my coaches, teammates, friends and family who supported me over the years, without whom I wouldn’t be here today. Thank you all so much.” Zingerle won gold in the mixed relay and silver in the single mixed relay at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020. At the IBU Youth & Junior World Championship Biathlon 2020, she brought home an impressive hat-trick of medals – gold in sprint, silver in the women’s relay and bronze in the pursuit. In addition to the newly designed Piotr Nurowski trophy, Zingerle will also receive a scholarship to support her training. The four runners-up also receive the trophies and financial support from the EOC. EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL Georgia and Czech Republic confirmed 2025 EYOF hosts The 49th EOC General Assembly has confirmed Borjomi and Bakuriani (GEO) and Brno (CZE) as hosts of the 2025 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), for the winter and summer editions respectively.