The first day of the 7th European Athletes’ Forum and Assembly saw athlete representatives from across Europe gather at the Italian National Olympic Committees (CONI) headquarters in Rome.
European NOCs were invited to send two members of their Athletes’ Commissions (AC) to the Forum, where the opening day saw presentations from Olympic Movement stakeholders, panel discussions and breakout workshops.
European Olympic Committees (EOC) President Mr Spyros Capralos and CONI President Mr Giovanni Malagò gave speeches to open the Forum, alongside EOC Secretary General Mr Raffaele Pagnozzi.
EOC AC Chair Mr Gerd Kanter and International Olympic Committee (IOC) AC Chair Ms Emma Terho provided detailed reports on their commission’s activities over the past 12 months.
Mr Kanter also chaired two panel discussions involving athlete representatives, where forum attendees were invited to ask questions and engage in discussions. The first panel focused on the role of the IOC and EOC ACs with Mrs Terho, Mr Alistair Brownlee, who is a member of both ACs, and Ms Luiza Zlotkowska, an EOC AC Member.
This was followed by a discussion on National ACs best practices, where representatives from the Danish, British, Dutch and Portuguese ACs shared details of innovative initiatives and programmes they had run in conjunction with the National Olympic Committees. Following the panel, all the attendees split into smaller groups to discuss further ideas and programmes that had been run in their countries.
There were also presentations from Olympic Solidarity and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and Mr Kanter emphasised the importance of the in person meetings for building relationships and ensuring that athlete representatives are able to listen to how other ACs deal with similar issues.
Mr Kanter said: “Gathering representatives from the European Athletes’ Commissions together in one place to build relationships and to discuss their work and best practices is vital as we continue to increase the role that our commissions play across Europe.
“I have seen my fellow athlete representatives network during the day, take part in detailed discussions and this will help ensure that the athlete voice continues to be heard across Europe. I hope that they have all been inspired by their conversations and have a number of ideas to discuss with their countries’ NOCs and ACs.”
