2011 Program News

Day One, begins with visits to IF's, visit to IOC Headquarters and Olympic Solidarity Presentation

The coaches have been reunited, meeting up again in Lausanne, Switzerland this week. Although they have been able to spend some time together, the coaches have been busy so far. Soon after arriving, each coach was scheduled to meet with his or her tutor to help work on finalizing different aspects of their presentations. Between changing their presentations and trying to catch up on sleep after all of the traveling, the coaches have managed find time to reconnect.

Thursday was again an eventful day that started early. After a quick meeting outlining the schedule for the weekend, some of the coaches left to go visit their respective International Federations.

When asked about his visit to the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), Mr. Jeffrey Nedd from Aruba responded with “How sweet it was.” He said he never thought he would have the opportunity to see the home of the AIBA, but was so excited he did.

Mr. Adisu Hurgessa from Ethiopia had the chance to visit with the World Taekwondo Federation. He met with the office manager and explained his project and what he did in his country. Adisu currently teaches self-defense and sport ethics at his local University. They recently added a three credit Taekwondo class, but they are looking to add it as a major in the near future. At his meeting, he asked if they would be able to recommend an English-speaking professor who would want to lead the program.

Later in the afternoon, the coaches were lucky enough to have another coaching panel discussion, as well as listened to a presentation on Olympic Solidarity. Ms. Carina Dragomir, a Project Officer within the coaches section for the IOC, gave the presentation. She assists the IOC Project Manager and Section Manager & Deputy Director with the implementation of their three coaches programs, Technical Courses for Coaches, Olympic Scholarships for Coaches, and Development of National Sports Structure. Ms. Dragomir is also the liaison with the International Federations, various training centers, and the African and European NOCs. She speaks many languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, and her mother language, Bulgarian.

Olympic Solidarity is the reason all of these coaches are in Switzerland. Without their support, the ICECP program would not happen. Olympic Solidarity’s mission is to organize assistance to NOC’s, particularly those with the greatest need of it, in order that NOC’s may fulfill their responsibilities to the Olympic Movement. The funds Olympic Solidarity provides come from the NOC share of the TV rights for the broadcast of the Olympic Game. One-third of the money is split evenly between the IOC, International Federations, and NOC’s. Olympic Solidarity offers different types of Olympic Scholarships for coaches, and one of the types is Training in Sports Sciences, which is what helps support this program.

Although it was a very busy day, all of the different things the coaches experienced helped them learn and grow even more.