Olympic Newsletter

N° 971 21 OCTOBER 2011 www.olympic.org actualites@olympic.org

IOC ACTIVITIES IOC PRESIDENT

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N°968 Sam Ramsamy has received 30 SEPTEMBRE 2011 the Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha Award from the www.olympic.org actualites@olympic.org FAX + 41 21 621 6216 Gandhi Development Trust in recognition of his role in furthering the cause of oppressed people in South Africa and upholding the principles of social justice and human rights.

OTHER NEWS

President Rogge at the Centenary celebrations of the New Zealand NOC

This week, IOC President Jacques Rogge has been in Auckland (New Zealand) for the 100th anniversary of the country’s NOC and the final phase of the rugby World Cup. During his visit, President Rogge attended the opening of the National Training Centre for High Performance Sport at the Millennium Institute, accompanied

by IOC members Barbara Kendall and Barry Maister. He also met government leaders and New Zealand sports authority representatives, as well as International Rugby Board (IRB) President Bernard Lapasset.

MEMBERS As the IOC’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mario Pescante addressed the UN General Assembly in New York (USA) this week for the adoption of the Resolution on the Olympic Truce for the 2012 Games in London (see under “Other news”).

On 17 October in New York, all the 193 UN member states co-sponsored the Resolution on the Olympic Truce for the 2012 Games entitled “Building a better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”. The Resolution also calls on member states to support the IOC “in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding through sport”. The Chairman of the Organising Committee for the 2012 Games (LOCOG), Sebastian Coe, introduced the Resolution on behalf of the United Kingdom (read the press release on www.london2012.com). On the same day, the International Olympic Truce Centre announced the launch of its new web site and forum, www.olympictruce.org, with the slogan “Imagine Peace”, ahead of the London 2012 Games.

Read the story on www.olympic.org (“Media” section).

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS SUMMER IFS The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has informed us that a Special Congress was held recently in Bangkok (Thailand), attended by FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann and FIBA Asia Secretary General Dato Yeoh Choo Hock.

Ninety-seven clubs have decided to create a new National Federation and elected a new Board. As a consequence, FIBA has lifted with Page 1/4

N° 971 21 OCTOBER 2011

immediate effect the suspension in force since 13 March 2011 to allow the Thai national teams to participate in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games that will take place between 11 and 22 November. The Congress was chaired by IOC member Nat Indrapana. More details on www.fiba.com Rimako Takeuchi (photo), the official photographer for the 43rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships held recently in Tokyo (Japan), has been awarded the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)’s Medal of Recognition in honour of her 30 years’ work in the field of gymnastics. The Japanese photographer has travelled the world since the 1980s following the most prestigious gymnastic events. She was presented with the medal by FIG President Bruno Grandi, and FIG Vice-President and Head of Media Slava Corn, during the Championships. More information on www.figgymnastics.com The winner of the International Handball Federation (IHF)’s 2010 World Handball Photo of the Year competition is Croatian photographer Antonio Bronic. His photo (above) shows Croatia’s Ivano Balic flying through the air during the main round of the Men’s European Championship in Austria during the Croatia – Iceland match. Balic was previously twice voted World Handball Player of the Year, as well as being elected “Best Handball Player Ever” by the users of the IHF website. The winning photo was chosen by a group of experts and the IHF Executive Committee.

NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES The Spanish NOC informs us that the city of Tarragona has been chosen to host the XVIII Mediterranean Games in 2017. The International Mediterranean Games

Committee made this decision at its recent General Assembly in Mersin (Turkey). Details on www.coe.es

Residents of Sendai with Olympians, athletes and personalities

The Japanese NOC is organising a series of sports events sponsored by the IOC/Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) “Tsubasa” support project. These “Olympic Day Festa” events kicked off in Sendai and Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi prefecture on 10 October, and will be held at 60 locations in the Tohoku region over the next three years, to encourage the areas and people who suffered serious damage from the earthquakes and tsunami in March this year.

A day before the launch in Sendai, IOC VicePresident Ser Miang Ng visited the areas affected. Thousands of residents enjoyed various sports activities at seven different sites, with 35 Olympians including IOC member Vera Caslavska and numerous athletes. Stephanie Cox and Jill Loyden from the US women’s football team, in cooperation with the US Olympic Committee, were also present, to the delight of the children with whom they played mini-games. Details on www.joc.or.jp The Jordanian NOC has created a new group on Facebook and a Twitter account with a view to reaching as many people as possible in the country. The NOC has a web site (www.joc.jo), but wanted to increase its social network presence. The NOC already has a group on Facebook for its volunteers club. The new group will promote events, disseminate information and promote sportsmen and women through “athlete in focus” interviews. Find out more at http://www.facebook.com/groups/164430850312 079 and http://www.twitter.com/#!/jocolympic.

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N° 971 21 OCTOBER 2011

The

VII Lithuanian Schoolchildren’s Olympic Festival was held in Šilale last week at the Simonas Gaudėšius Gymnasium, which was celebrating th its 90 anniversary. This festival is organised by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Department of Physical Education and Sports, the Lithuanian NOC and the Lithuanian Sports Centre for Pupils and Students. At the opening ceremony of this seventh edition, pupils, guests, teachers and local council members watched the Olympic torch being brought in by the Šilaleborn world under-23 rowing champion, Donata Vištartaite, who has already qualified for the Games in London. It was then the turn of basketballer Marijonas Petravičius, another child of Šilale, to enter the hall with the Olympic flag (photo). More details on www.ltok.lt An

Olympic Solidarity technical course for taekwondo coaches was held recently in Ulaanbaatar under the leadership of World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) expert Kim Seok-San, with more than 40 participants from all over Mongolia. NOC Secretary General Jugder Otgontsagaan, and S. Ganzorig, VicePresident of the Mongolian Taekwondo Federation, presented the course participants with their certificates (photo). This was the third Olympic Solidarity course to be held in Mongolia this year, after others for judo and wrestling.

Details on www.olympic.mn

The Slovenian NOC recently celebrated its th 20 anniversary with a gala in Ljubljana.

The guests included European Olympic Committees President and IOC member Patrick Hickey, as well as numerous NOC presidents and secretaries general. On this occasion, State President Danilo Turk (right of photo) awarded the NOC the highest national distinction, which he presented to NOC President Janez Kocijancic (pictured left). Info on www.olympic.si

ORGANISING COMMITTEES FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES SOCHI 2014 The Organising Committee for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games has announced the issue of new series of stamps entitled “The XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi: tourism on the Black Sea coast of Russia” and “The XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi: Olympic winter sports”.

For the first series, the stamps will be the most multilingual in Winter Games history: the information on the stamps is provided in six languages (Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese). The four stamps show the most emblematic locations in Sochi and the surrounding area, i.e. Krasnaya Polyana, the Harbour Station, the Watchtower on the Bolshoi Akhun mountain and a unique megalithic cultural monument, Volkonsky Quoit in the Sochi National Park. See the stamps on www.sochi2014.com.

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N° 971 21 OCTOBER 2011

RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS The Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and The Royal Parks have announced that the very first continental “House” in the history of the Olympic Games is set to be located in Kensington Gardens in London. So from 27 July to 12 August 2012, the 53 African NOCs will be hosting this joint national house, which will also be open free of charge to the public. More details on www.africaolympic.org Sky Sport New Zealand has won the broadcast category of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)'s 2011 Paralympic Media Awards. The award was for the TV broadcaster that presented the highest quality and most dynamic coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Read more on www.paralympic.org.

From 10 to 13 October, nd Monaco hosted the 22 SPORTEL, the international sports convention for television and new media, under the patronage of IOC member Prince Albert II and the IOC. The theme of this edition was “Smart TV: added value for sport?” The members of the jury for the Georges Bertellotti Golden Podium Awards also revealed the names behind the best sports images and slow motion sequences of 2011. The IOC Grand Prize went to “Teddy Riner” by Canal Plus S.A. The winners of the st Best Illustrated Sports Book and the 1 International Sports TV Audience Award were also announced, the latter being awarded for the first time by SPORTELMonaco and Eurodata TV Worldwide. Find all the award winners on www.sportelmonaco.org. During the Golden Podium Awards, the Peace and Sport Organisation under the patronage of Prince Albert II made a sneak preview announcement of the winner of the Peace and Sport Image of the Year Award 2011. The winning photo was taken in the streets of Kabul (Afghanistan) during International Go Skateboarding Day on 21 June 2011. Read the press release on www.peace-sport.org.

IMPRINT N° 971 21 OCTOBER 2011 A publication of the

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