89th ANOC Executive Council meeting held in Athens
The 89th ANOC Executive Council meeting was held in Athens today and featured discussions on ANOC’s key initiatives and events as ANOC looks to provide maximum value to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
The meeting was opened by ANOC President Robin Mitchell who provided an update on recent activities and thanked ANOC Vice President Spyros Capralos and the Hellenic Olympic Committee for hosting the meeting and yesterday’s spectacular Olympic Flame handover ceremony. ANOC Secretary General Gunilla Lindberg provided further details on ANOC’s extensive activities since the last meeting in December including the numerous workshops and webinars which have been held for NOCs.
A report from the ANOC Events Commission provided the interim findings from the evaluation of the ANOC World Beach Games concept to determine how to make the Games more flexible and commercially attractive. It was agreed that the Commission would continue its study and report back at the next meeting.
A progress report was delivered on the Strategic Plan 2021-2024 as the Executive Council received updates on what has been achieved against each of the 12 objectives beneath the four strategic pillars. The next Strategic Plan will be developed in the second half of this year following an assessment of where further work is required.
ANOC President Robin Mitchell said:
“Today’s meeting of the ANOC Executive Council was very productive. Our members engaged in constructive discussions focused on how ANOC can provide the very best support to the NOCs. ANOC exists to serve the NOCs and so NOCs must always be at the heart of everything we do. As we have seen today, we have made very good progress in the implementation of our Strategic Plan and delivered projects that have received very positive feedback from NOCs. We know there is a lot more we can do and we are excited to develop our Strategic Plan for the next quadrennial.”
The Executive Council expressed its concerns with the announcement by World Athletics to award prize money to Olympic gold medallists in each of its Olympic events at Paris 2024 and all medallists at Los Angeles 2028 and reiterated the importance of preserving the values of Olympism. The full statement can be found here.
The Executive Council received reports from each of the ANOC Commissions including the Sustainability Commission. The Executive Council unanimously approved ANOC becoming a signatory of the Sports for Nature Framework which will see ANOC commit to positive nature action across four principles.
The composition of the ANOC Athletes’ Commission was approved.
Reports were delivered from each of the Continental Associations and an update was provided on the upcoming General Assembly Cascais 2024 with preparations progressing well.
