EOC Newsletter EOC ACTING PRESIDENT
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EOC Newsletter No. 205 August - September 2020 MESSAGE FROM THE EOC ACTING PRESIDENT Dear colleagues, On 21 September we organized our first physical Executive Committee meeting since January in Ljubljana, Slovenia. These were extraordinary circumstances, of course, as the main purpose of our visit was to pay our last respects to former EOC President Janez Kocijančič. Accompanied by IOC President Thomas Bach, we held a memorial for Janez in the presence of his wife Andreja and daughter Nike before visiting his final resting place to say our last goodbyes. It was a moving tribute to a true friend of sport and great man of Olympism. The ExCo meeting was an active one, with input received from all Members, including those who joined remotely having been unable to travel due to COVID restrictions. You can read more about our meeting in the pages that follow and on the EOC website, but of particular interest to our 50 ENOCs were discussions on the 3rd edition of the European Games, which will take place in Kraków-Małopolska in 2023. Following an excellent meeting with Polish government officials and the Polish NOC on 12 September in Rome, steady progress is now being made with regard to preparations for the event, including the announcement of a preliminary list of 23 sports, the most ever for a European Games. We have been especially impressed by the enthusiasm and vision shown for the project by our Polish friends, which bodes well for a great Games in 2023. The ExCo also discussed the next five editions of the European Youth Olympic Festival, agreeing, among other things, on the postponement of Vuokatti 2021 from February to December next year. It was a difficult decision to take, but ultimately the health and the safety of the athletes must take precedence during the ongoing pandemic. We approved the audited EOC figures for 2019 and the provisional budget for 2021, both of which will be sent to you at least 30 days before the next General Assembly, which will take place on 27 November in Rome. Our discussions also focused on the important activities of the EOC EU Office in Brussels, the ‘reactivation’ of funds for special activities, and a proposal to initiate a long-term strategic plan for the future of the EOC. Each of these will be presented to you at the GA. As you can see, despite the rise in new coronavirus cases in many countries and subsequent disruption to our normal routines, the EOC has remained hard at work over the last few months for the benefit of sport in Europe. I look forward to seeing you either in person or virtually on 27 November to discuss all these points in greater detail. Best regards. Niels Nygaard EOC Acting President 1 EOC NEWSLETTER August - September 2020 EOC EOC ExCo holds first physical meeting since January The EOC Exutive Committee (EXCo) held its seventh meeting of 2020 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 21 September, taking a number of important decisions for the benefit of European sport while dealing with the continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first meeting held in person since the start of the pandemic, although due to travel restrictions and other measures aimed at limiting the transmission of coronavirus, a number of ExCo members joined the meeting remotely. EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi provided an overview of the activities undertaken by the EOC staff in Rome, the key accomplishment being that the Tokyo 2020 emergency funds, provided by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), have now been distributed to the European National Olympic Committees (ENOCs). Another key discussion centred on the 49th EOC General Assembly, which will take place in Rome on 27 November after being rescheduled from Istanbul at the end of October due to the uncertainty and organisational issues caused by the pandemic. The General Assembly will be asked to vote on a possible change to the EOC Articles of Association and approve the audited 2019 financial statements and 2021 budget, which were both given stamps of approval by the ExCo. Read more Kocijančič posthumously awarded EOC Order of Merit EOC President Janez Kocijančič was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in a commemorative ceremony in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 21 September 2020. The Olympic family paid tribute to Kocijančič, who passed away on 1 June, recognising his outstanding contribution to the cause of European sport and his faithfulness to the Olympic ideals. EOC ExCo Member Zlatko Mateša presented the Order to Kocijančič’s wife and daughter, together with IOC President Thomas Bach, EOC Acting President Niels Nygaard, EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi, EOC Acting Treasurer Peter Mennel, Slovenian Minister of Education, Science and Sport Dr Simona Kustec and the President of the Olympic Committee of Slovenia Association of Sports Federations, Bogdan Gabrovec. “I have hardly heard anybody speak so convincingly about the importance of sport for education, for solidarity, for social values, for bridging the gap between peoples. Or as they would say now, against any form of discrimination,” President Bach said. “And Janez was not only speaking of this, he was living these values.” In a moving speech, Mateša remembered his lifetime friend and the great man of Olympism Kocijančič was: “Our President was a man of vision, dedicated to all aspects of his life. Whatever he touched – business, politics – he was successful,” he said. “But there was one part of his life that was his own, and that was sport. That was his love, besides his family. Through all the decades he spent in sport, it was his way of spreading his thoughts about sport, about Olympism and about the Olympic values.” Read more 2 EOC NEWSLETTER August - September 2020 #BeActive with EOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Gerd Kanter During the European Week of Sport, which started on 23 September 2020, EOC Athletes’ Commission Chair and discus- thrower extraordinaire Gerd Kanter provided Europeans with plenty of motivation to #BeActive. Why? Well, as an Olympic gold medallist, World Champion, and multiple winner of Sportsman of the Year in his native Estonia, it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about getting fit. Kanter recently took some time out of his preparations for the Tallinn Marathon to speak to us about the importance of being active and leading a healthy lifestyle. “Sport has been in my blood since I was little kid,” said Kanter, explaining why he is excited to be a patron of the European Week of Sport. “Already during my professional sports career, I was trying to be a role model for kids to be active and inspire them to take part in sporting activities. Now, as an ex-sportsman, I try to motivate people of all ages to be active and choose an active lifestyle.” Read more EUROPEAN GAMES 2023 - EOC, Kraków-Małopolska agree on preliminary list of sports On 12 September, the EOC welcomed a delegation from Poland to the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) headquarters in Rome for discussions on the third edition of the European Games (EG), which are scheduled to take place in Kraków-Małopolska in summer 2023. The two sides agreed on a preliminary list of 23 sports for the Games, subject to final negotiations with each of the European and international sports federations. A key criterion for selection was whether the sports will use the European Games as their continental championships and/or offer qualification for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The sports included in the preliminary list are: archery, artistic swimming, badminton, basketball 3×3, beach handball, breaking, canoe (slalom, sprint), cycling (mountain bike, road), fencing, gymnastics, judo, karate, modern pentathlon, mountain running, rugby sevens, shooting, ski jumping (summer), sport climbing, table tennis, triathlon, volleyball (beach and court), weightlifting and wrestling. Read more EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL Vuokatti 2021 – Winter EYOF postponed from February to December 2021 The winter edition of the 2021 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) has been postponed from February to December to safeguard all those involved in the event – in particular the young athletes – during the COVID-19 pandemic. The EOC came to the decision together with the local organisers of the Vuokatti 2021 EYOF on 23 September. The new dates for the continent’s leading multi-sport event for athletes aged 14 to 18 are 12 to 17 December. “This was by no means an easy decision to take,” said EOC Acting President Niels Nygaard. “For many months now we had hoped against hope that the pandemic would improve enough to safely host Vuokatti 2021 on schedule. Sadly, it was not to be, but postponing the EYOF to December means that the vast majority of the athletes who were looking forward to competing in February will still be able to participate later in the year.” Read more 3 EOC NEWSLETTER August - September 2020 Vuokatti 2021 - 25 European Young Olympic Ambassadors selected The EOC has announced the 25 European Young Olympic Ambassadors (EYOA) who will take part in the Winter EYOF Vuokatti 2021. The candidates were assessed by the EOC Olympic Culture & Legacy Commission, which eventually selected the most motivated young people. Despite the postponement of the Winter EYOF from February to December 2021, the EYOA programme is going forward, and a first webinar already took place on 23 September 2020. A multinational team from 25 different European countries will introduce young athletes to the international sporting community and encourage them to go beyond competing to discover the power of the Olympic Movement and the strength of the Olympic values and ideals. Read more Banská Bystrica 2022 - Organising Committee welcomes New Executive Director Peter Hamaj Peter Hamaj is the new Executive Director of the Banská Bystrica 2022 Organising Committee for the XVI Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, which will be held from 24 to 30 July 2022.