Rome, 22nd November – the 42nd General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees today elected the Executive Committee that will watch over the Association till 2017 . President Patrick Hickey, Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi and Treasurer Kikis Lazarides were confirmed in their posts, whilst Janez Kocijancic is now the new Vice president, all elected by acclamation, as allowed by the Articles of Association when there is only one candidate for a post.
The 12 elected Members are :
Mr. Hasan ARAT, TURKEY
Mr. Alejandro BLANCO, SPAIN
Mr. Spyros CAPRALOS, GREECE
Mr. Frantisek CHMELAR, SLOVAKIA
Lord Sebastian COE, GREAT BRITAIN
Mr. Alexander KOZLOVSKY, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Mr. Andrzej KRASNICKI, POLAND
Mr. Zlatko MATEA, CROATIA
Mr. Niels NYGAARD, DENMARK
Mr. Marc THEISEN, LUXEMBOURG
Mr. Michael VESPER, GERMANY
Mr. Efraim (Ziggy) ZINGER, ISRAEL
The Assembly opened this morning in the Italian capital chaired by Patrick Hickey, the guest of honour being IOC President Thomas Bach, who chose Europe for his first continental meeting.
A particularly large number of guests from the Olympic World accepted the EOCs and the Italian NOCs invitation. The opening ceremony was attended by HE Sheikh AL Sabah, the President of ANOC, ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti, SportAccord President Marius Vizer, 14 International and European Federations and 22 IOC Members.
The Rome Assembly also brought together three EOC Presidents, Franco Carraro, Jacques Rogge, and Mario Pescante, today Honorary President.
The Opening Ceremony was marked by a particularly moving moment with the posthumous remittance of the Order of Merit to Olafur Rafnsson, the recently deceased President of the NOC of Iceland.
The 400 participants will be together until Saturday to take stock of the Associations activities of the past quadrennial, discuss issues of current concern, and in particular the sports events being organised, including the Olympic Games, the YOGs, the EYOFs and the Games of the Small States of Europe.
The Assembly also chose the winner of the 3rd Piotr Nurowski prize for the best European young athlete, whose name was only revealed at the Gala Dinner.
Saturday will be dedicated to the inaugural Baku 2015 European Games, which will be the subject of a detailed presentation given by the EOC Coordination Commission chaired by Spyros Capralos, and by the team from BEGOC.
When the Assembly closes on Saturday, the delegates will attend an audience that Pope has conceded the participants at the 42nd General Assembly of the EOC.
