EOC Newsletter No. 197 November - December 2019 MESSAGE FROM THE EOC PRESIDENT Dear colleagues, By all sporting measures, 2019 was a great success for the European Olympic Committees and Olympic Movement in Europe. Our flagship property, the European Games, was expertly hosted by our friends in Minsk, cementing its status as our continent’s premier multi-sport event. Minsk 2019 also significantly raised the profile of the European Games, pointing the way to even greater things ahead. We are confident that Kraków and the Małopolska Region of Poland, which were elected host of the 2023 edition earlier this year, will pick up right where Minsk left off and deliver a cost-effective, sustainable event that will bring many long-lasting benefits to the region and the people who live there. Over 4,500 of our best young athletes, meanwhile, showed that the future of sport in Europe is in very good hands following their memorable performances at two editions of the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2019: Sarajevo and East Sarajevo (winter) in February and Baku (summer) in July. In addition to the many excellent athletic performances, the EYOF once again demonstrated that peace, harmony and hope for a better future begin where sport and youth converge. This was acknowledged earlier this month by Peace and Sport, a neutral independent organisation that uses the power of sport to promote peace, which presented the cities of Sarajevo and East Sarajevo and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina with their Diplomatic Action of the Year award for hosting the 14th Winter EYOF. I congratulate both cities and the NOC for this distinguished honour. Our friends in Montenegro should also be praised for having proudly organised the Games of the Small States of Europe in May, proving that smaller nations can have a big heart. In particular, my most heartfelt thanks go to the athletes, coaches and staff members from all the European National Olympic Committees for their role in the success of all the EOC events. It has been a tremendous year for our 50 ENOCs. Not only did you support the European (Olympic) Model of sport, the EOC measures on gender equality in sport, anti-doping and many others, you also took the impetus to initiate many worthwhile programmes and projects of your own. From the excellent New Leaders Programme run by the NOC of Finland in collaboration with the NOCs of Lithuania, Ireland and Azerbaijan, to the multitude of Olympic Day and European Week of Sport activities, you have all been hard at work placing sport at the service of humanity around the continent. I also would like to commend the EOC Team in Rome, which has worked and is working very hard in order to provide the NOCs with the best conditions for their athletes. Congratulations to the EOC EU Office in Brussels on their 10th anniversary as the representative body of the EOC to the European Union this year. Their activities included hosting seminars on EU funding opportunities for sport and on special competence, encouraging people everywhere to #BeActive during the European Week of Sport, exploring ways to use sport as a tool for the integration and social inclusion of refugees, and many others. 1 EOC NEWSLETTER November - December 2019 Let me take this opportunity to commend everyone within the European Olympic Committees’ family for your devotion to sport throughout Europe. You truly are making our world a better place through sport. Looking ahead, while there is no EOC-organised sport event on the calendar for the coming year, it nevertheless promises to be another busy period, what with the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne in January and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 taking place in July and August. I wish your teams and especially your athletes all the best in preparing for these two major events on the sports calendar. Your efforts will once again underscore Europe’s leading place in world sport, both on and off the field of play. On an institutional note, we also look forward to seeing you at the EOC Seminar from 15-16 May in Samorin, Slovakia and the 49th General Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey from 30-31 October. On behalf of the entire EOC team, I wish you a peaceful, prosperous and sportive New Year. Happy holidays, everyone. Janez Kocijančič EOC President EOC EOC Athletes’ Forum focuses on empowerment, communication and networking Hosted by the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI), the 10th edition of the EOC Athletes’ Forum was held in Dublin, Ireland from 6-8 December. The Forum was officially opened by EOC Vice President Niels Nygaard, who welcomed more than 60 athletes from across Europe to the Irish capital. The athletes were mandated to strengthen their networks, have their voices heard within their NOCs, and to communicate more frequently and effectively with each other and within their respective networks. “Congratulations to the EOC Athletes’ Commission for the excellent job you have been doing since being elected in 2017,” said Nygaard. “At the halfway point of your mandate you have made some excellent progress in ensuring that the athletes’ voice is being heard and that they are at the heart of the decisions of the Olympic Movement in Europe.” Read more President Kocijančič honoured with EUSA Order of Merit EOC President Janez Kocijančič has been honoured with the European University Sport Association’s (EUSA) prestigious Order of Merit award. It was awarded to him by EUSA Secretary General Matjaz Pecovnik during a visit in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 5 December 2019. Within the framework of its 20th anniversary, EUSA rewarded individuals and institutions who in 2018 have significantly contributed to the development and promotion of university sport in Europe. EUSA paid tribute to the EOC President in recognition of his continued support of EUSA initiatives, which paved the way for greater cooperation with other sport governing bodies. Read more 2 November - December 2019 EOC NEWSLETTER Kocijančič at gender equality forum in Helsinki: ‘The future is in the new leaders’ EOC President Janez Kocijančič and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach were among the top sports leaders and game changers attending the New Leaders Forum in Helsinki, Finland from 19-20 November 2019. Throughout 2019, 30 European young sports professionals took part in three workshops and designed action plans to put the 25 IOC Gender Equality Recommendations into practice. “The future is in these new leaders. I’ve been working in the international sports movement for 50 years and we often experience the same problems. That is why we need new people, fresh ideas, new solutions,” Kocijančič said. “We, elderly leaders, shouldn’t just preach, we should listen.” The gathering in Helsinki aimed to promote equality, good governance and responsibility in sport. It also represented the culmination of the New Leaders Programme, a joint project run by the Finnish Olympic Committee in cooperation with the IOC and EOC. “Our goal is to achieve a gender-balanced world, and we have to do everything in our capacity to reach it. The New Leaders Programme is one of the tools we have at our disposal,” Kocijančič continued. “Women working in sport or, in fact, all industries are known to have great management skills, which should be acknowledged. Women should have the same possibilities as men to occupy leadership positions. Our aim is to create a system in which women are enabled to be elected.” Read more Two EOC ExCo Members appointed to IOC CoCom for Milano Cortina 2026 The EOC is pleased to announce that two of its Executive Committee (ExCo) members, Lithuania’s Daina Gudzinevičiūtė and Spain’s Alejandro Blanco, have been named by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as members of the Coordination Commission (CoCom) for the Olympic Winter Games Milano-Cortina 2026. In total, five of the 10 CoCom members are European, including Chair Sari Essayah of Finland, Jiří Kejval of the Czech Republic, and Jan Dijkema of the Netherlands. “As the continent that routinely wins two-thirds of all Olympic Winter Games medals, it is an honour for Europe and the EOC ExCo to be so strongly represented in the CoCom for Milano Cortina 2026,” said EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi. “The EOC and all 50 ENOCs are very much looking forward to Milano Cortina 2026 as it will be the first Olympic Winter Games back on our continent in 10 years and the first in Italy since Torino 2006.” Read more EOC Sports director Peter Brüll attends UEG congress in Sofia EOC Sports Director Peter Brüll attended the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) congress in Sofia, Bulgaria from 15- 16 November. He delivered a presentation focusing on the good collaboration between the EOC and the UEG, as well as the important role that gymnastics plays at EOC events. “I was happy to be able to present the EOC sports events – the European Games and the EYOF – to the UEG congress delegates,” said Brüll. “UEG is a strategic partner of the EOC, and gymnastics is among the core sports of the European Games and the EYOF. I am looking forward to our future cooperation.” Read more 3 November - December 2019 EOC NEWSLETTER Capralos represents EOC at European Olympic Academies’ annual congress EOC ExCo and IOC Member Spyros Capralos attended the 2nd conference of the European Olympic Academies (EOA) titled ‘Sharing the Future of Olympism’ in Nicosia, Cyprus from 14-15 November 2019. Capralos, who is also President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, was the EOC spokesperson at the annual gathering, which saw the attendance of 21 national Olympic Academies. “Being the guardians of our Olympic ideals, you are the interpreters of the vision of our founder, Pierre De Coubertin,” Capralos said.