EOC Newsletter No. 193 June 2019 MESSAGE FROM THE EOC PRESIDENT Dear colleagues, Allow me to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for contributing to the success of the 2nd European Games Minsk 2019, which I am sure you will agree was an excellent competition that far surpassed our expectations. Athletes from all 50 of our European National Olympic Committees competed in Minsk, the smallest delegation being Liechtenstein with one athlete, and the largest being Russia with 224. In total, 43 countries returned home with at least one medal. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from all stakeholders, in particular the athletes, who said they were impressed with the state-of-the-art venues, the excellent conditions at the Athletes’ Village and the overall organisation of the Games. Our gratitude must be extended to our friends at the Minsk European Games Organising Committee for their dedication to the European Games project and the quality of their work in the lead up to and during the event. I would also like to thank EOC Coordination Commission Chair Spyros Capralos, who deservedly became an IOC Member during the Games, for his unwavering support and invaluable advice from the moment he and the rest of the Commission were named. It is thanks to their efforts that our athletes could focus all their energies on what mattered most – the competition. As a result, we were treated to some amazing athletic achievements in Minsk. Some set personal bests, others were crowned European champions, while a good number also booked their tickets to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. What was clear for all to see in Minsk was that our European athletes continue to set the global standard, and we wish all of those who will compete at Tokyo 2020 the very best. The European Games remain in good hands going forward, with the naming of Krakow and the Malopolska Region of Poland as hosts of the 3rd edition in 2023. We are already working on making this edition of the Games highly sustainable and cost-effective with the strongest possible sports programme, one featuring as many qualification places as possible for the following year’s Olympic Games in Paris. After only two editions of the European Games, the continent’s premier multi-sport event is already leaving behind some powerful legacies. Later this month, from 21-27 July, the host city of the first European Games in 2015, Baku, will welcome some 3,600 of our best young athletes to the 15th European Youth Olympic Festival. In 2015, Baku relied on 600 foreign experts to deliver the European Games. Two years later, thanks to the transfer of knowledge from the European Games, the organisers were able to host the Islamic Games with only 60 foreign specialists. This month, the EYOF Baku 2019 will be entirely organised by locals, some of whom also worked at Minsk 2019. It is great to see that the European Games are already having such a positive impact around the continent. We look forward to strengthening this trend in Poland in 2023 and of course seeing all of you again in Baku for the EYOF. Best regards, Janez Kocijančič EOC President 1 EOC NEWSLETTER June 2019 EOC ExCo doubles IOC European Games Minsk representation as Capralos 2019: EOC first to involve becomes IOC Member volunteers in medal ceremonies The Executive Committee (ExCo) of the European The EOC became the first sports organisation to give Olympic Committees (EOC) doubled its representation volunteers the opportunity to present medals to athletes within the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on when it chose 19-year-old Aliaksandr Bahatka and 26 June, when Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) 21-year-old Maryia Aniskovich from 7,800 volunteers President Spyros Capralos was named IOC Member. to do the honours at the gymnastics and cycling medal Capralos joins National Olympic Committee (NOC) of ceremonies on 30 June, the final day of competition at Lithuania President Daina Gudzinevičiūtė as the only two the European Games in Minsk. EOC ExCo Members within the IOC and ends Greece’s Medals are usually presented by NOC Presidents and almost four-year hiatus without such representation. Secretary Generals, but the EOC was keen on breaking “It is very important that the birthplace of the Olympic with tradition at the 2nd European Games last month Games, Greece, again has a member-representative to in order to reward two exceptional volunteers for their the IOC,” said Capralos. “On a personal note, having hard work and effort at the Games. dedicated my entire life to sports and Olympism, it is a “It is a milestone for our Association,” said EOC Secretary dream come true. I will continue to dedicate myself to General Raffaele Pagnozzi, who proudly supported this strengthening the Olympic Movement and the Olympic initiative. “We are proud to be the first and hope to Games.” Photo courtesy of IOC Read more inspire also other organisations in the future. Volunteers are the engine of every Games and they fully deserve it”. Read more Baku 2015 medals for sprint canoe reallocated during 2nd European Games Four years after claiming silver in the Men’s K1 200m event at the 2015 inaugural European Games in Baku, Swedish sprint canoer Petter Menning was finally awarded gold on 27 June at a medal reallocation ceremony during the 2nd European Games Minsk 2019. Menning was upgraded to European Games champion following the disqualification of Hungarian Miklós Dudás for an anti-doping rule violation in 2015. Read more 2 EOC NEWSLETTER June 2019 EOC President Kocijančič EOC Gender Equality aims to “advance & EYOF Commissions friendship between our informally meet in Minsk The EOC Gender Equality in Sport and the European countries through sport” Youth Olympic Festivals (EYOF) Commissions had Organised by MEGOC and the Belarusian Institute informal meetings in Minsk respectively on 21 June and for Strategic Studies, EOC President Janez Kocijančič on 28 June, during the 2nd European Games. attended the conference “Sports Diplomacy: Creating Chaired by Portuguese Olympic Committee Secretary Opportunity through Sports” at Dinamo Stadium in General José Manuel Araújo, the EYOF group discussed Minsk on 25 June. a series of key aspects on how to improve future The seminar centred on the opportunities and challenges EYOFs. One of the main topics was the review of the of hosting major multi-sports events as well as best sports programme, with the aim of making most of the practices with regard to sports diplomacy. sports qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). In Kocijančič also used the occasion to speak about the September, the Commission will meet with the IOC in power of sport to build bridges between peoples and order to discuss this possibility, while a working group nations where other avenues fail to do so. will go to Baku for the Summer EYOF later this month to “Sport can resolve many problems that are sometimes review all operational areas and determine any necessary too complicated to be resolved by modern states,” he improvements on the format. said. “Take the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival Discussions also included reports on preparations for in Sarajevo & East Sarajevo last February, for example. the upcoming editions, including Vuokatti 2021 and There were thousands of people outside trying to enter Banská Bystrica 2021 as well as how to make Europe’s the sold-out stadium, because they wanted to tell the premier youth event even more attractive for potential leadership and the world that they are fed up with host cities. animosities and divisions, and that they would like to live The EYOF Commission will hold its official annual a normal and happy life – a European life.” meeting in Rome on 30 September. The EOC President concluded by saying that the Whereas the EOC Gender Equality Commission, chaired European Games 2019 opened up Belarus to the rest of by Irish Sarah Keane, mainly focused on the New Europe and vice versa, “advancing friendship between Leaders Programme and the New Leaders Forum, which our countries through sport.” Read more will be organised in Helsinki, Finland on 18-20 November 2019. Its main goal is to take concrete action plans on EOC and RIOU choose a personal and organisational level towards a gender- balanced future, creating a culture of change in Europe. three students for The group will officially meet in Warsaw on 24 October, on the eve of the EOC General Assembly. academic scholarship Next to hold a meeting is the EU Commission on 6 September in Brussels. The EOC and the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) have selected three students to study for a high-level Master’s degree in Sports Administration on scholarships for PIOTR NUROWSKI PRIZE the academic year running from September 2019 to June 2020 in Sochi. The chosen students are Jakub Malý from Applications open for Austria, Lana Grgic from Bosnia & Herzegovina and D. Carlos Llopis Hernández from Spain. Summer Best European “We talked to all of the students and were really impressed with the competence of the candidates,” said Diana Young Athlete Pruidze, Head of International Educational Programmes The EOC has opened the candidatures for the 9th Summer at RIOU. “The university usually offers just one scholarship Piotr Nurowski “Best European Young Athlete” Prize. per academic year, but this time, we are happy to give this The NOCs of Europe have been called on to select a opportunity to all three candidates. We thank the EOC for candidate before the deadline of 9 September 2019. The the usual annual support.” Read more 2018 Summer prize was presented to Austrian racing cyclist Laura Stigger, while the winner of this year’s Winter edition was 14-year-old Russian figure skater Alexandra Trusova.