An eventful first day of the 50^th Anniversary General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) has come to a close in Athens, Greece.

Elections for the 2021-2025 EOC Executive Committee resulted in Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) and Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Spyros Capralos being named 9th EOC President, with Daina Gudzinevičiūtė (LTU) becoming Vice President, Raffaele Pagnozzi (ITA) re-elected Secretary General and Peter Mennel taking over as EOC Treasurer. For more on the elections, click here.

The meeting began with former EOC Treasurer Kikis Lazarides (CYP) being awarded the 2021 Order of Merit for his outstanding contribution to the Olympic Movement during his distinguished career.

“I am indeed very pleased to receive this great Order of Merit and I want to thank you all, as for me to perform as I did over the years is also credited to all of your support, the support of all my friends in the Olympic Movement,” Lazarides said.

Representatives of the 50 National Olympic Committees (46 of which were present in Athens) received updates on EOC activities from former EOC Acting President Niels Nygaard, Secretary General Pagnozzi, and Acting Treasurer Mennel.

Hasan Arat, Chair of the Coordination Commission for the European Games Krakow & Malopolska 2023, provided a comprehensive report on the progress being made for the third edition of Europe’s leading multisport event for elite athletes. Eighteen sports are now confirmed for the programme, with a further 12 expected to follow, making it the largest and most innovative European Games to date.

After hearing from ANOC Secretary General Gunilla Lindberg, IOC Director of NOC Relations and Olympic Solidarity James Macleod provided an update on preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, with a particular focus on safety measures for athletes and other stakeholders this summer in the Japanese capital. Representatives of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad gave further details remotely from Tokyo.

The Chairs of the EOC Commissions — Environment & Sport for All, EYOF, Gender Equality in Sport, Legal Affairs, Marketing & Communication, Medical & Antidoping, Olympic Academies Working Group, and Olympic Culture & Legacy — also presented. The heads of the Athletes, European Union, and Olympic Games Commissions will report tomorrow.

Day 1 ended with the approval of Skopje (North Macedonia), Istanbul or Antalya (Turkey) and Brasov (Romania) as hosts of the next three EOC General Assemblies in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Later this evening the winner of the 6th Piotr Nurowski Best European Young Athlete (Winter) Prize will be announced. Five athletes are in the running: Croatian alpine skier Zrinka Ljutic, British freestyle skier Kirsty Muir, Belgian snowboarder Evy Poppe, Slovenian biathlete Lena Repinc, and Estonian freestyle skier Henry Sildaru.

On the Agenda for Day 2 of the General Assembly are reports on the EOC Strategic Agenda 2030, the Athletes’ Commission, the European Sport Model and the upcoming European Youth Festivals (EYOFs) in Vuokatti, Finland (Winter 2022), Banská Bystrica, Slovakia (Summer 2022), Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy (Winter 2023) and Maribor, Slovenia (Summer 2023).