HOLDING THE FORT
Robin Mitchell has been the supposedly temporary President of the Association of National Olympic Committees since 2018, overseeing the unprecedented turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first World Beach Games in that time. Michael Pavitt speaks to the Fijian on what the future holds.
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look back at the final day of the 2019 Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly provides an insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the Olympic Movement in such a short period of time. Speakers in Doha were looking forward to the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics and the summer version in Dakar in 2022. South Korean pop sensation PSY, known for his smash hit Gangnam Style, was mentioned as Seoul prepared to host the next General Assembly. Fast forward to today and the two-year anniversary of Lausanne 2020 is now on the horizon. The delayed Dakar Games are five years away and National Olympic Committees are preparing to visit Crete for the General Assembly. There is a lot to catch up on. ANOC’s Acting President Robin Mitchell has been leading the organisation during its attempts to steer NOCs through the challenges posed by COVID-19, to ensure their participation at both the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. He is “acting” as President after stepping in to cover influential sports kingmaker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah in 2018, due to the Kuwaiti’s legal problems.
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In September, there was a huge development when Sheikh Ahmad was found guilty of forgery in a Geneva court and sentenced to at least 13 months in prison. The Sheikh denies wrongdoing and is appealing, with the situation due to be addressed in Crete. But it looks like Mitchell’s already lengthy stay in “temporary” charge will be continuing for a while yet. This year’s General Assembly in October falls close to the midway point between Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, which are separated by just six months. It will offer a chance to perform something akin to a health check on one of the Olympic Movement’s key stakeholder groups. “It was very disappointing that we could not host the ANOC General Assembly last year, but it was the right decision to protect the safety of the NOC family,” Mitchell tells insidethegames. “Now, after a two-year gap, we are more excited than ever to host the General Assembly and to have the opportunity to meet with NOCs and discuss the most pressing issues they are facing. “We worked hard with the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee to host the ANOC General Assembly in Seoul as originally planned, but it was mutually agreed that due to the quarantine restrictions caused by
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The 2021 ANOC General Assembly will be held in Crete, after it was moved from Seoul and then Athens. Photo: ANOC
COVID-19 it would not be feasible to host the event this year. “We are grateful to the KSOC for their hard work and commitment to hosting the General Assembly and hope we will be able to stage the event in Seoul in the future. “The ANOC General Assembly is always a very special gathering as the biggest coming together of the Olympic Movement outside of the Olympic Games. It was very special being able to meet with NOCs during Tokyo 2020 after so long apart, and we are greatly looking forward to meeting many more in Crete.”
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