IOC ACTIVITIES
Last week, IOC President Jacques Rogge attended the Closing Ceremony of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. On this occasion, President Rogge underlined the efficient work carried out by the whole Organising Committee team, chaired by IOC member Ser Miang Ng, in close collaboration with the Coordination Commission for these Games, chaired by IOC member Sergey Bubka.
After the closing of these Games, President Rogge went to Nanjing (People’s Republic of China), which will host the second edition of these Games in 2014.
Accompanied by Alexander Popov, who is chairing the Coordination Commission for these Games, President Rogge took part in a debriefing of the Singapore YOG with the Nanjing YOG Organising Committee. He also met several personalities from Nanjing and the province of Jiangsu, and visited the Olympic centre and the city’s exhibition centre, before speaking to students of the foreign language school.
From Nanjing, the IOC President went to Shanghai, where the 2010 Universal Exhibition is running until 31 October. There he met Mayor Han Zheng and Deputy Mayor Zhao Wen.
On 28 August, the IOC was saddened to learn of the death of Anton Geesink at the age of 76. A 10th dan judoka, Geesink was an Olympic gold medallist in Tokyo in 1964, world champion in 1961, 1964 and 1965, and won 21 European and several national championship titles. Geesink dedicated his entire career to the promotion of sport and its values. He was an adviser to the Dutch Secretary of State for Sport, an honorary member of the International Judo Federation (IJF) and Lifetime Honorary President of the European Judo Union. He was elected as an IOC member in 1987, was a member of its Sport for All Commission and Evaluation Commission for the Winter Games (in 1996) and was the delegate member for members’ responsibilities from 1992 to 2001. Since 2002, he had played an active role during the Olympic Games as a delegate member for Games Observation.
In his capacity as President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Francesco Ricci Bitti has received the American NOC’s “Olympic Strength Award”. This award was presented by NOC CEO Scott Blackmun at an ITF gala dinner in Washington DC (USA).
As every year since 2000, the IOC will next year award six “Women and Sport” trophies. Each NOC, IF or Continental Organisation may put forward a candidature, which will be examined by an IOC jury, made up of Women and Sport Commission members. The deadline for submitting a candidature is 15 October 2010. Download the candidature form and rules from here.
INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS
The third International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) coach education event was organised recently in Thiès (Senegal). Some 18 coaches from across the country attended this course followed by a training camp, both funded through the FIG Development Fund for Region 2 of Africa. More info at www.fig-gymnastics.com.
NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
We have just learned that German President Christian Wulff has accepted the patronage of the German NOC, whose President is IOC Vice-President Thomas Bach.
The Brazilian NOC has a entered into partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to promote the “Say No to Doping” campaign during the School and University Games, which will bring together 12-to-14-year-olds in Fortaleza (State of Ceará) from 10 to 19 September 2010. WADA Director for Latin America Maria José Pesce will be attending. The campaign slogan will be displayed at all the venues and printed on t-shirts distributed to the delegations. Activities will also be carried out at the Social Interaction Centre. Books on the dangers of doping will be distributed to all participating students and teachers.
At the end of August, on the beaches of Cavancha in the Iquique region, Olympic Day commemorations came to an end in Chile. Over 1,000 athletes took part in the beach volleyball, beach football, handball, rugby sevens and surfing competitions. Demonstrations in archery, roller hockey and judo were also organised. Chilean NOC Secretary General Juan Carlos Cárdenas attended these events.
LONDON 2012
29 August marked two years to go until the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. On this occasion, Chris Holmes, the Organising Committee’s Director for Paralympic Integration and a winner of nine Paralympic gold medals in swimming, joined the 2012 Paralympic Games mascot, Mandeville, at a training camp for the British team in Bath. Read the news story at www.london2012.com.
SOCHI 2014
The Organising Committee for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi has launched a nationwide competition to design the mascot for these Games. The competition will run from 1 September till 5 December 2010 and participants can submit their ideas through a special web portal (in Russian only) or by mail. An expert jury, made up of filmmakers, animators, artists, cultural workers, professional marketers and athletes, will then create a short list of finalists. The winning design will be decided on 7 February 2011 through a public SMS and telephone vote. The winner will receive two tickets to the Opening Ceremony of the Games. Read the news story at www.olympic.org (Media section) and www.sochi2014.com.
SINGAPORE 2010
The very first edition of the Youth Olympic Games came to an end on 26 August after 12 days of world-class sporting competition and cultural and educational activities. Some 3,600 athletes aged 14 to 18 took part in these Games in Singapore. They were accompanied by 1,850 officials in total, while 20,000 volunteers helped make the organisational aspect of the Games a success. Global interest in the YOG was strong, with over 160 rights-holding broadcasters providing TV coverage, and over 1,900 international media representatives in Singapore. Videos on the YOG YouTube channel were viewed over five million times. The Games could also be followed live online on the Singapore 2010 Official Webcasting Platform. The IOC reached out to a young audience worldwide on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Over half of the 3.6 million fans across the Olympic Facebook platforms are aged between 13 and 24. The Singapore 2010 and YOG pages now have over 100,000 fans. The IOC’s web site recorded the highest number of views since Vancouver 2010, with over two million page views for August alone, while the official YOG site exceeded one million visits from the opening day on 14 August. Re-live the highlights of these Games at www.olympic.org.
THE OLYMPIC MUSEUM
The Olympic Museum in Lausanne recently received two new donations from two champions: Swiss ice skater Stéphane Lambiel, two-time world champion, two-time European runner-up and Olympic silver medallist in Turin in 2006; and Canadian ice skater Joannie Rochette, who won bronze in Vancouver last February, competing only two days after the sudden death of her mother. Lambiel donated the zebra-striped outfit he wore when he won the Olympic silver medal, while Rochette donated the first dress she wore in her Olympic short programme. Read the news at www.olympic.org (Media section).
