Rio 2016 will certainly uncover new champions, and so the deadline for European NOCs to name their choice for 2016 Best European Young Athlete for the 6th Piotr Nurowski Prize has been set at 1st September.

The Award, created in 2010, is in memory of a dear and great friend of Olympism, the late President of the Polish NOC. Through his example and his memory, the award aims to encourage young athletes to pursue a career in elite sport, and also inspire future generations to adopt a healthy lifestyle based on Olympic values and principles.

The long list with nominations from all European NOCs will then be sent to them again and each will have to choose once more, within 15th September, so as to reach a short list of 5 names for the final vote at the 2016 EOC General Assembly, which will be sent to all NOCs by 20th September. The ceremony for the EOC Piotr Nurowski Summer Award will take place during the EOC General Assembly’s Official Dinner, next 21 October in Minsk (Belarus).

To be eligible for the Award, an athlete must:

– be a citizen of a European country

– be presented by his NOC, in conjunction with the National Athletes’ Commission, if any

– be under the age of 19 at 31 December 2016.

In choosing their candidate, the NOC/ National Athletes Commission should take into consideration:

– Performance achieved by the young athlete during the EYOF summer events or Olympic Games

– His/her performance in national, regional and/or world championships

– His/her particularly valuable behaviour, action and/or conduct in the fields of fair play, Olympic culture and values, friendship, etc.

The winner will receive a trophy and a training scholarship to help him/ her to achieve even greater performance. The other four nominees will also receive a trophy.

The names in the EOC Hall of Fame to date are:

2011-Tobiasz LIS (POL) Cycling,
2012 /2013 – Ruta MEILUTYTE (LTU) Swimming
2014 – Simone SABBIONI (ITA) Swimming
2015 – Ji?í JANOŠEK (CZE) Track Cyclist

Who will be next?