The 23 European Young Olympic Ambassadors (EYOAs) were praised for their outstanding work and awarded diplomas and medals at a ceremony during the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Maribor on Saturday.

The Ambassadors, together with seven Alumni Ambassadors, are part of the 7^th edition of the EYOA programme. During the week of competition in Maribor, 23 – 29 July, the athletes competing at the Festival  were able to get involved in different games such as Scavenger Hunt, Kahoot, Olympic History, True Olympism, Fair Play is Key, Olyvision, and more and had the chance to win unique prizes.

In addition to learning about the Olympic Values through the “Cultural Day” activity, athletes had a chance to learn about different cultures, traditional games, and customs. There was also an “Integrity Day,” where they learnt more about fair play, prevention of the manipulation of competitions, anti-doping, and financial and business literacy in sport. Partners from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Testing Agency (ITA), European Fair Play Movement and the Slovenian Olympic Committee all provided valuable contributions in support of these important topics.

EYOA Alexandra Edebo said: I really appreciate this opportunity, I have lived by these Olympic Values myself, I went to the Olympics in Beijing and I fought really hard to get there, so these Values are really close to my heart. I want to do my best to spread them to the younger generation and support them in their journeys and their quest for friendship, excellence and respect. It is a privilege being part of this programme.

European Olympic Committees (EOC) Culture and Education Commission member and EYOA Project leader Natasa Jankovic said: “It has been a pleasure to work with the 23 Ambassadors and 7 Alumni Ambassadors prior to and during the 7th edition of the EYOA program in Maribor.

“All the Ambassadors were great in their roles and acted as true Olympic Ambassadors!

“Thanks to the great collaboration with our partners we were able to deliver new formats of the programme for the athletes which was a great success. I really want to acknowledge the great cooperation we had with the EYOF Organising Committee and especially Aleš Šolar who supported us from the beginning.

“I hope that the athletes will remember this experience not only for sports competitions, but also for embracing Olympic Values as a way of life!”

EOC President Spyros Capralos, EOC Culture and Education Commission Chair Jean Michel Brun, Executive Committee Members Annamarie Phelps, Maribor 2023 Organising Committee Chair Nataša Ritonija and EOC EYOF Maribor Coordination Commission Guro Lium presented the medals and diplomas to the EYOAs.

EOC President Spyros Capralos said: “I would like to say a big thank you to our programme organisers Clea Papaellina and Natasa Jankovic, without their inspiration and efforts this programme would not happen.

“This programme is very important because it gives athletes the opportunity to combine sport with culture and also enable the young athletes to understand a little bit more about what Olympism is, what the ideals are and support their understanding of the Values through games and education. Life is not only sport achievement, but also a combination of these things and because of you, [the Ambassadors] they become better athletes and better people.

“Thank you to all of you, without you it would not be possible to have this programme.”

The EYOA programme is an initiative of the EOC Culture and Education Commission, chaired by Jean Michel Brun and is a key part of the EYOFs. In the lead up to the EYOF Maribor 2023 the Ambassadors were guided by the fantastic Alumni Ambassadors during a series of webinars helping them in creating ideas for the activities delivered this week.

The EYOAs will now become part of the Alumni who continue their work in the promotion of the Olympic Values. The next editions of the programme will be in two years’ time at the winter EYOF 2025 in Georgia and summer EYOF 2025 in North Macedonia.