Representatives from 21 European Olympic Academies as well as officials of the Olympic Movement met in Nicosia, Cyprus the 14 to 15 November 2019 to attend the 2nd conference and annual General Assembly of the European Olympic Academies.
The conference
The 2nd conference and annual General Assembly of the European Olympic Academies with the title “Shaping the future of Olympism” started with a special keynote of Mr Dinos Foinikarides, dealing with the current challenges ‘“Modern Media: Chances and Risks for the Olympic Movement”.
Maria Bogner, Head of the Olympic Studies did a very interesting presentation entitled: ‘‘Encouraging and Empowering Olympic Studies’’. She recalls the need to work “together to encourage, enable and inform Olympic studies and enrich the future of the Olympic Movement”.
The EOA Vice president Dr. Maria Bulatova made an important overview and history of the “Olympic Education”. All these keynotes have allowed members to exchange and very interesting topics were raised. In addition, it was a good start to implement cooperation and initiate projects within the EOA.
The General assembly and next steps
On the second day, the structures of future collaborations were discussed through the 2nd general assembly. It started with the president’s report “First and foremost, my thanks go to the Cyprus National Olympic Committee and the Cyprus National Olympic Academy, to our friend Prof. Dinos Michaelides and his team, who have prepared this event so carefully and professionally in recent months … The EOA was formally established in Ljubljana on September 20, 2018. Here in Nicosia, on the island of Aphrodite, we meet for the first time in the current term.” states Manfred Laemmer. This General assembly was the opportunity to inform all the members that the registration of the EOA as a non-profitable European organization was achieved. It was also the occasion to present important documents such as “Rules and Procedures of the Executive board”, “Good Governance Principles”, and some information regarding the creation of “Honors and Awards”.
One of the main objectives of the Executive board of this year 2019 was the establishment of the commissions with members. With the nomination of the candidates, this now 28 members from the european Olympic Academies that will join the 4 commissions (communication, development and cooperation, Olympic education and Olympic heritage).
Thanks to the cooperation of the commission, the next steps will be the elaboration of program plans and communication tools.
The executive board would like to thanks all the members and the speakers, as well as the IOA delegation, and with a special thanks to the Cyprus Olympic Committee for the organization of the event and especially his president Dinos Michaelides for his warm welcome.
