Lausanne, July 19, 2014: Olympic agenda 2020, Leading representatives of the Olympic Movement met in Lausanne today, with the Olympic Agenda 2020 process central to their discussions. Sports leaders heard updates on the proposals that have so far been generated on Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, which is scheduled for further consideration and final approval at the Extraordinary IOC Session in December.
The Olympic Summit was convened by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. It forms part of the on-going dialogue and consultation on the main topics of interest and concern to the Olympic Movement.
It brings together the IOC Vice-Presidents and Presidents of the major stakeholders of the Olympic Movement. *(See list of attendees at the end).
The Summit welcomed the inclusive and transparent process that has also received contributions from civil society and the general public and enhanced good governance at the IOC.
Under the direction of the IOC, Olympic Agenda 2020 has addressed three major themes: sustainability, credibility and youth. The Summit fully supported the direction of the reforms. Detailed discussions have taken place on a range of key issues including cost management of the Games, protecting the clean athletes, good governance and youth strategy. Click here for the 14 sub-themes.
In particular the Summit supported:
– A new strategy for the bidding procedure. This includes giving more flexibility to bid cities, with emphasis on the sustainability of the Olympic Games. Candidate Cities should focus on what legacies the Olympic Games can bring to the area and its citizens from the very beginning of the bid procedure, and in particular how the Games fit best into the social, environmental and long-term development plan of a host region. The need for Olympic Movement stakeholders to remain flexible and open to reasonable adaptation to this concept was also agreed.
– Changes to the procedure for the composition of the Olympic programme. The goal is to present proposals for a more flexible approach by adopting an event-based rather than a sport-based approach to the composition of the programme, while retaining the limit on the number of athletes participating.
– The establishment of an Olympic TV channel. Participants supported an Olympic TV channel, recognising the potential to greatly increase the presence of sports and the promotion of the Olympic values year round and worldwide. The IOC will contact all the relevant stakeholders in the coming months to further develop the concept.
Further consultations on Olympic Agenda 2020 are scheduled for September, when today’s contributions, along with the discussions of the Working Groups in June, will be presented to the IOC commissions. The refined proposals will then be discussed again at an Executive Board (EB) meeting in October, before being presented for discussion by the entire IOC membership and final approval at the Extraordinary IOC Session in Monaco, on 8 and 9 December 2014.
The Olympic Summit participants acknowledged the benefits for the entire Olympic Movement from the growing collaboration enjoyed at the highest level between the IOC and the United Nations following the signing of a historic memorandum of understanding between the two organisations earlier this year.
The participants were looking with confidence in the future of the Olympic Movement with regard to long-term financial stability following a number of agreements finalised this year: The recently signed broadcast and TOP sponsor agreements not only guarantee the long-term financial stability of the IOC and the Olympic Movement but also exhibit the trust that corporations have in the IOC.
Earlier this year, the IOC completed a long-term deal until 2032 with US broadcaster NBC Universal and another with the Japanese consortium for the Japan broadcasting rights, in addition to signing Bridgestone as a new TOP partner and extending the TOP partnership with Panasonic.
Updates were also given on the subjects addressed at the previous Olympic Summits, and progress reports on three key issues were provided. These included the fight against doping; the sports calendar; autonomy and good governance; and the fight against match-fixing and related corruption.
1) Protecting the clean athletes
A report was given on the additional fund of USD 20 million set aside by the IOC in the fight to protect clean athletes, which is to be shared equally between the fight against doping and combating match-fixing and related corruption.
The President of ASOIF presented the latest developments in the Olympic Movement’s efforts in the fight against match-fixing. These include closer cooperation with governments and betting operators to better coordinate efforts in the field of education, monitoring and the harmonisation of legislation.
The IOC has introduced the IBIS monitoring system and put it at the service of the stakeholders of the Olympic Movement. An update was also given on cooperation with Interpol, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations.
The participants heard a report from the WADA President on the current position of WADA on how to ensure the permanent protection of clean athletes in cooperation with all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement. He also reported on WADA’s efforts to convince governments to match the additional IOC fund.
2) The sports calendar
The participants agreed on the creation of a Sports Calendar online database for the coordination of the scheduling of sports competitions at a global level, agreeing to a project to compile a comprehensive universal spring calendar of current events in order to find the best options for planning sports competitions at a global level, in particular when proposals for new events arise.
3) Autonomy and good governance
The participants noted with satisfaction the good results already achieved by the Working Group on Good Governance established at the last summit meeting, and encouraged the IOC to continue its good work.
A proposal was also discussed to implement an intelligence system to monitor conflicts, for the benefit of the Olympic Movement.
Finally, the participants agreed on the process of creating ad-hoc taskforces to resolve specific conflicts.
*LIST OF PARTICIPANTS:
Thomas BACH, IOC President
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad AL-SABAH, ANOC President
Claudia BOKEL, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission
John D. COATES, AC, IOC Vice-President
Bruno GRANDI, FIG President
Patrick HICKEY, IOC EB Member
Gian-Franco KASPER, AIOWF President
Peng LIU, Chinese Olympic Committee President
Julio César MAGLIONE, FINA President
Lawrence PROBST III, United States Olympic Committee
President
Craig REEDIE, IOC Vice-President
Francesco RICCI BITTI, ASOIF President
Marius VIZER, SportAccord President
Ching-Kuo WU, IOC EB Member
Alexander ZHUKOV, Russian Olympic Committee President
Zaiqing YU, IOC Vice-President. —- IOC
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