EOC Newsletter No. 203 June 2020 MESSAGE FROM THE EOC ACTING PRESIDENT Dear colleagues, It is my sincere hope that all of you at the European National Olympic Committees are coping as well as possible with the COVID-19 pandemic and managing to find ways for your athletes and teams to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 next year. While the situation appears to be improving in many countries across the continent, others continue to struggle with the virus. To assist you all in this time of crisis, we recently distributed a lump sum of USD 25,000 to each European NOC and are now preparing to allocate another USD 1.55 million from the ANOC Tokyo 2020 fund to NOCs most affected by the pandemic. We trust that these resources will be helpful to stabilize operations until the sports world returns to normal again. Earlier this week I visited the EOC Head Office in Rome and was pleased to see everyone back in the office again after so many weeks working from home. I commend the team for their excellent work during this period, in particular for helping the EOC leadership adapt seamlessly to the new technological realities of conducting business under COVID-19 restrictions. On 1 July I had the honour of being the first guest to visit the Olympic House in Lausanne since the lockdown began in March. It was a pleasure to meet with IOC President Thomas Bach and discuss a number of important Olympic-related issues. Looking ahead, an EOC delegation will visit Warsaw, Kraków and the Małopolska region of Poland from 26-19 July. I am very much looking forward to working with our Polish hosts on advancing preparations for the 3rd edition of the European Games in 2023. Preparations are also well under way for the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Vuokatti, Finland from 6 to 13 February 2021. As Vuokatti 2021 is scheduled to be the first Olympic event post COVID, it holds even greater significance than usual. Let us work hard to make this edition of the EYOF a special one for youth of Europe and the entire Olympic Movement. Best regards. Niels Nygaard EOC Acting President 1 EOC NEWSLETTER June 2020 EOC EOC celebrates one-year anniversary of Minsk 2019 On 21 June 2020, the European Olympic Committees (EOC) celebrated the anniversary of the 2nd European Games Minsk 2019. Exactly one year previously, the biggest multisport event in Europe got underway with a spectacular Opening Ceremony that set the stage for the 10 days of world- class competition that followed. Minsk 2019 was a true celebration of European sport that brought together over 3,600 elite athletes from all 50 European National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to compete in 15 sports, eight of which offered qualification opportunities for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Forty-three of the countries took home at least one medal, with Russia leading the way (109 medals), followed by Belarus (69), one of many notable accomplishments for the host nation during the Games. From an organisational point of view, the event could not have run more smoothly. Praise from athletes, coaches, spectators and other stakeholders was universal. From the Athletes’ Village and state-of-the-art venues to the friendly, knowledgeable volunteers and a near-flawless transportation network, Minsk 2019 will long be remembered as a great success. When asked for his impression of the 2nd European Games, Coordination Commission Chair for Minsk 2019 Spyros Capralos said: “I’m reminded of the words of Janez Kocijančič [the late EOC President who sadly passed away on 1 June this year]. He said that the EOC had high expectations going into the Games, and that they were all surpassed. I couldn’t agree more! Everyone involved in the staging of the event can feel proud of what they accomplished, in particular the Belarus hosts and their 8,000 exceptional volunteers.” Read more EOC to distribute USD 2.8 million to European NOCs ahead of Tokyo 2020 The EOC will distribute USD 2.8 million to the European NOCs in order to support them in their response to the specific needs incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. This amount has been allocated by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and will be distributed through the EOC in consideration of the continent’s specific needs. This will be performed in coordination with Olympic Solidarity to avoid duplication of activities and existing Olympic Solidarity world and continental programmes. This financial aid will allow NOCs to sustain additional costs that might occur in the lead-up to the Games in Tokyo, now to be staged in 2021, related to various areas, including athlete preparation, materials and equipment and NOC administration, as well as communication and advocacy focusing on measures linked to COVID-19. Around half of the sum (USD 1.25 million) will be shared equally between the 50 European NOCs, and as a result, a lump sum of USD 25,000 will be immediately available for each NOC. Read more 2 EOC NEWSLETTER June 2020 OLYMPIC DAY CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT EUROPE Olympic Day is celebrated every year on 23 June and, as always, the EOC encouraged people everywhere to get active on this special day. This year, our European NOCs enthusiastically celebrated a rather “unique” Olympic Day, many having been forced to take their festivities online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In what was considered to be the world’s largest 24-hour digital Olympic workout, Olympic athletes put fans through their paces in workout videos throughout the day starting at 11 a.m. (local time across 20 time zones) on @olympics Instagram live. A compilation workout video featuring 23 Olympians and their favourite workout moves was also available on the EOC Channel and Olympic Channel. Some of Europe’s top athletes took part, including Johanne Defay (France, surfing); Martin Fourcade (France, biathlon); Petra Klingler (Switzerland, sport climbing); Margarita Mamun (Russia, rhythmic gymnastics); Valentina Marchei (Italy, figure skating); Lutalo Muhammad (Great Britain, taekwondo); Sandra Sánchez (Spain, karate); Abdullah Sediqi (Belgium, refugee scholarship holder, taekwondo); and Tobias Wendel and Tobias Arlt (Germany, luge). The EOC Athletes’ Commission also showed its commitment to Olympic Day. Olympians Gerd Kanter (Estonia, discus throwing ); Tania Cagnotto (Italy, diving), David Harte (Ireland, hockey) and Luiza Złotkowska (Poland, speed skating) sent a positive message to their fans, showing how they celebrated the day while encouraging people to #StayActive outdoors. With COVID-19 restrictions still affecting the movements of people around the world, this year’s Olympic Day activities were somewhat more creative than in the past. According to the IOC, since the pandemic forced the world into lockdown and the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, close to 5,000 Olympians have engaged with a remarkable 243 million people online across more than 50 countries in the IOC’s #StayStrong, #StayActive, #StayHealthy campaign by sharing their daily workouts and uplifting tips on how to stay healthy in body and mind. Olympic Day 2020 will take this campaign to the next level. In addition to the #StayActive digital campaign on social media, the Albanian NOC celebrated Olympic Day at the Harry Fultz Institute, which has never missed organising an Olympic Day or Olympic Week. This year, while respecting social-distancing measures, physical education teachers including Ilir Gusho, a member of the Executive Committee of the Albanian NOC, led students in physical activities and the sharing of Olympic values during a ceremony that also featured the Olympic Flame. 3 EOC NEWSLETTER June 2020 The Azerbaijan NOC provided exercise classes for the people of Baku on their balconies with the participation of Rio 2016 Olympic judoka medallist Rustam Orujov, as well as athletes from the basketball and cycling federations, members of the national team of the Azerbaijan Cheerleading Federation and football freestylers. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus launched a charity initiative called “100 hours with A1: supporting TEAM BY!”, where fans could practise four sports activities (running, walking, swimming and cycling) while helping children with difficulties. Each participant can take the challenge of 100 hours of physical activity in 50 days, choosing any of the four types of activity proposed and recording their training data on virtual platform 100.A1.by. Once a total of 50,000 hours is reached on the campaign counter, the participants will have ensured a donation of 50,000 Belarusian roubles to the Republican Clinical Centre for Children’s Palliative Care. The Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina asked its athletes to share their vision of Olympism. The NOC also provided athletes with disabilities with specialised sports equipment as a sign of solidarity on the occasion of the Olympic Day week. The equipment, consisting of a van with a ramp for easy access for athletes in wheelchairs, eight professional basketball wheelchairs, a net and balls for sitting volleyball, two tables for table tennis, as well as other items, was presented to the Paralympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The NOC is proud to implement initiatives related to Sport for All, thereby setting a good example for all local institutions with respect to providing equal opportunities. The British Olympic Association (BOA)’s celebrations spanned over five days, inviting people to get active with Get Set, the BOA and British Paralympic Association’s youth engagement programme. This was initially created as the official London 2012 education programme, delivered as per London 2012 Chair Lord Sebastian Coe’s vision to use the Games to inspire a generation of young people. “Travel to Tokyo,” part of the Get Set initiative, aims to encourage children and their families to try new activities in the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, which have been delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.