ANOC President End of Year Message
As the end of 2024 approaches, we have the opportunity to reflect on what has been an unforgettable year for the NOC family and wider Olympic Movement.
Any Olympic year is special, but the Olympic Games Paris 2024 saw athletes from the countries of 206 NOCs come together in peaceful competition in some of the most iconic Olympic venues. At a time when the world so desperately needed it, the Games, led by our athletes, sent a message of peace and hope.
Every athlete contributed to a Games we will never forget. Not just the athletes from the 90 NOCs plus the Refugee Olympic Team who won medals but all the athletes who showcased the very best of humanity. We commend the IOC for staying true to the Olympic values and ensuring that athletes from the countries of all NOCs were able to compete in Paris, and to the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for delivering a spectacular Games with an important social legacy.
At ANOC, we were proud to be able to make a small contribution to NOC’s successes through a number of programmes and initiatives before, during and after the Games from workshops, webinars and seminars through to our photo and video projects.
The ANOC Awards 2024 in Cascais at the end of October gave us the chance to relive the magic of Paris 2024 and for the NOCs of St Lucia, Dominica, Guatemala and Botswana it was particularly special as we honoured the first-time medals they won at the Games.
Of course Cascais also played host to our XXVII ANOC General Assembly. After two years, it was humbling to have the world’s NOC family all together again under one roof. As we know, the ANOC General Assembly represents the depth and breadth of the NOC family.
It was clear during the General Assembly how much shared passion there is among our family and our mutual commitment to making ANOC represent NOCs in the most efficient and effective way possible.
We welcomed the full engagement of the General Assembly in Cascais and took on board the feedback and interventions. We recognise the challenges we face and the adjustments that together we will make as we adapt to our new reality. By embracing the different perspectives of the NOC family we will be able to emerge stronger, and as I said, a stronger ANOC only strengthens the Olympic Movement.
We saw during the ANOC Theme Sessions on the third day of the General Assembly the extent of theexpertise there is within the NOC family and how much of a contribution we can make to advancing critical topics in the Olympic Movement when we work together. In ANOC we will continue to foster exchange and learnings on these subjects from sustainability to safeguarding, AI and more.
The importance of ANOC’s role in the Olympic ecosystem was reiterated by IOC President Thomas Bach whose much-welcomed presence and contribution to the General Assembly underscores the positive working relationship between ANOC and the IOC.
We were very grateful for President Bach’s inspiring address in Cascais butmore than that for his visionary leadership over the last 11 years. During a period of unprecedented global challenges, our President has expertly guided the Olympic Movement and leaves a lasting legacy of an Olympic family, stronger-together.
As we look to the new year we recognise there will be a period of transition as a new IOC President is elected in March. But ANOC will continue to ensure a strong working relationship with the IOC, just as we will with the International Federation family, and all Olympic stakeholders, for the benefit of the NOCs.
The process for the development of our consultative ANOC Strategic Plan 2025-2028 is underway and will guide our work in the years ahead. All the invaluable feedback from NOCs via the online questionnaire will be studied by the Strategic Plan Working Group to ensure the creation of a strategy which truly reflects the priorities of the NOCs.
We look forward to seeing the outcome of this work and the launch of the new strategy which will drive our work as we build on the excellent initiatives and programmes we have delivered over this last year and more.
I am excited by what the future holds and have no doubt that we have an opportunity to build for a stronger, more united and collaborative ANOC in 2025 and beyond.
