Monday, April 2, 2012

London 2012 Highlights of the Week

IOC Announces Olympic Highlights of the Week

On 28 March, IOC President Jacques Rogge met British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London to talk about the progress of preparations for the 2012 Games.

(PRWEB) April 02, 2012
IOC ACTIVITIES
PRESIDENT
On 28 March, IOC President Jacques Rogge met British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in London to talk about the progress of preparations for the 2012 Games. Other attendees at the meeting were IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald; Organising Committee (LOCOG) Chairman Sebastian Coe; Secretaries of State Jeremy Hunt, Theresa May and Justine Greening; Sir Philip Craven, the President of the International Paralympic Committee; the IOC’s Olympic Games Executive Director, Gilbert Felli; and LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton.
MEMBERS
Ching-Kuo Wu, who is also President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), has received the Order of the Polar Star - the highest civilian award Mongolia can present to international leaders. Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia) presented this award to Ching-Kuo Wu in recognition of his important contribution to the development of boxing and promoting the Olympic ideals around the world. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Palace in Ulaanbaatar.
COMMISSIONS
With four months to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games, the IOC Coordination Commission paid its final visit to the host city from 28 to 30 March. Led by its Chairman, Denis Oswald, the Commission met LOCOG and representatives from the government and local authorities to discuss progress and final preparations as the countdown to the Opening Ceremony on 27 July gathers pace.
INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS
SUMMER IFS
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has announced the death of Giorgio Garufi, former Vice-President of the FIG Gymnastics for All Committee. Garufi was Vice-President of the Italian Gymnastics Federation for 25 years. He was also a men’s artistic gymnastics judge at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, five World Championships and numerous major international competitions.
From 12 to 15 April in Tokyo (Japan), the 10th International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Swimming Officials Seminar will bring together 111 participants from 58 member federations. Organised in cooperation with the Japan Swimming Federation, the main aim of the seminar is to provide an opportunity for swimming officials from around the world to exchange knowledge and strengthen expertise in respect of both FINA Swimming Rules and practice at international competitions.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced that the Bulgarian Tennis Federation will host the fourth ITF Beach Tennis World Championships from 21 to 24 June. The best men’s and women’s doubles pairs from around the world will be competing in the Black Sea resort of Bourgas.
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has announced that the candidates for the FIVB Presidential and FIVB Board of Administration minority gender elections have been unanimously approved by the FIVB Board of Administration. These elections will take place at the FIVB Congress in September in Anaheim (USA) from 19 to 21 September. The current FIVB President, Jizhong Wei, will not be seeking re-election.
RECOGNISED IFS
The International Basque Pelota Federation (FIVP) has just created an Athletes’ Committee. This Committee is composed of six players who competed in the most recent World Championships in Pau (France) and previous World Cups.
NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
We have just learnt that, as part of the events to mark International Women’s Day, the Albanian NOC’s Women and Sport Commission organised a round table on “Physical and Social Impacts of Sport in the Lives of Albanian Women”. The topics addressed included the Declaration of the 5th World Conference on Women and Sport in Los Angeles last February, a brief history of women’s participation in the Olympic Games and the role of female managers in Albanian sport. Sports activities were also organised for the participants.
The Women and Sport Commission of the Barbados Olympic Association also celebrated International Women’s Day by holding a special event at the Barbados Olympic Centre. Under the theme of “Connecting girls, Inspiring Futures - Through Sports”, this event celebrated the achievements of young women in sport. Thirty-four young girls were awarded certificates honouring them for their achievement and excellence in their sport. The programme also included cheerleading demonstrations and a Zumba dance session.
The Chilean NOC is hosting the second module of the Olympic Solidarity MEMOS (Executive Masters in Sports Organisation Management) programme. From 24 March to 4 April, representatives from 17 countries will be addressing the following topics: managing sports events, managing human resources in sports organisations, research methodology and data analysis, the values of sport, sports organisations in modern society and women in decision-making positions.
On 27 March, the Colombian NOC organised the first of four events entitled “100 athletes in London, the home straight” (“100 atletas a Londres, la recta final”). On this occasion, the official jacket to be worn by the Colombian team in London was presented. Various personalities were present, including the representative of the British ambassador, Tony Regan; NOC President Baltazar Medina; the Director of Coldeportes, Andres Botero; and athletes Paulo Villar and Angélica Hernández, who showed off the new jackets.
The Spanish NOC’s Olympic Federations Council has approved the choice of Cayetano Cornet as Chef de Mission for the Spanish team at the Games in London. This will be the fourth time that Cornet has performed this function, after Turin, Beijing and Vancouver. He was also Chef de Mission for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and Innsbruck. For his part, NOC President Alejandro Blanco has just been named Honorary President of the Spanish Olympians Association, which has around 600 members.
On 3 April, the French NOC will be holding its second “Sport and International Relations” conference on the theme of lobbying. Those attending will include the President of the International Rugby Board (IRB), Bernard Lapasset, and the Secretary General of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) and World Olympians Association (WOA) President, Joël Bouzou.
The 11 surviving members of the Irish team which took part in the 1948 Games in London have been honoured by the Irish NOC. A lunch in their honour was held at Farmleigh House, the Irish State Government House. Six of the team were there, and the other five were represented by family members. NOC President Patrick Hickey, presented them with Olympic Medals of Honour.
Dick Fosbury, the legendary high jump champion at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, was the Israeli NOC’s guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Wingate Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences. This Congress marked the 20th anniversary of Israel’s first Olympic medal. The personalities present included NOC President Zvi Varshaviak and Yael Arad, Israel’s first Olympic medallist (silver in Barcelona in 1992). Coinciding with this Congress, the NOC hosted the annual meeting of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Olympic Games Commission, chaired by Efraim Zinger, NOC Secretary General and a member of the EOC Executive Board.
26 March saw the 1,000th meeting of the Italian NOC (CONI)’s Executive Committee. On this occasion, CONI President Giovanni Petrucci recalled the history of the Committee and reported on his meetings with Sports Minister Piero Gnudi on the reorganisation of territorial structures and the launch of the “White Book of Sport” project. On the following day, there was a general meeting with the national federations of the sports at the Games in London. CONI Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi gave an update on the athletes who have qualified for the Games and the technical and organisational arrangements for the Italian team.
The Secretary General of the Mongolian NOC, Jugder Otgontsagaan, has become the first Mongolian sports leader to be appointed to an IOC commission, in this case the Sport and Environment Commission. He was warmly congratulated on this appointment at a ceremony attended by NOC President Demchigjav Zagdsuren; the Chairman of the Physical Education and Sports Authority, Ch. Naranbaatar; IOC honorary member Shagdarjav Magvan; and the Minister for the Environment, D. Tsogtbaatar. Jugder Otgontsagaan joined the Olympic Movement in 1990 as a sports journalist and has twice been appointed NOC Secretary General. He is also a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)’s Media and Coordination committees.
RECOGNISED ORGANISATIONS
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced two major initiatives that will take place during the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Between 6 and 8 September, the IPC Academy Inclusion Summit will bring together business leaders, governments and the Paralympic Movement to discuss inclusion and accessibility's impact on society. The other initiative is the “Games Experience Programme”, taking place between 3 and 5 September. This will give governments from around the world and those involved in the Paralympic Games supply chain a greater understanding of the complexities involved in delivering these Games. The IPC has also joined forces with the FC Barcelona Foundation to launch “We are what we do, we are what we achieve”, a campaign to provide teachers with the tools required to adapt physical education classes so children with disabilities can participate in sport on the same level as their classmates.
For more information, please contact the IOC Media Relations Team.

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