Rome, 13th September – there’s been lots of contact between the NOCs, athletes and the EOC in the run-up to the Athletes’ General Assembly and Forum that will take place in Poreç, on the Adriatic coast in Croatia, next 4th and 5th October, with the assistance of the NOC, led by Zlatko Matesa.
The European Athletes Assembly, the fourth since Jacques Rogge, who was then President of the EOC, decided to establish an Athletes’ Commission in 2001, will, among other things, elect the Athletes’ Commission charged with the task of watching over the interests of the European athletes for the next four years (2013-2017). The deadline for candidatures for a place in the ten-strong Commission (eight for summer sports and two for winter sports) is 16th September. To be eligible, candidates have to be active athletes, in other words they need to have taken part at the London or Vancouver Games, and must be presented by their NOC. The newly elected Commission will then choose its President.
Since it was set up, the Commission has had four presidents, including Sergey Bubka (UKR), Yuri Tamm (EST), Claudia Bokel (GER) and Antonio Rossi (ITA), who all worked with great commitment to get NOCs to set up National Athletes’ Commissions in support of athletes and create ways for athletes to communicate with each other.
As always, the Poreç meetings will allow athletes and NOCs to exchange experiences and points of view, in particular during the Forum. This year’s programme again sees the inclusion of some recurring themes close to the hearts of elite athletes, including education and training, the switch from a sports career to the world of work, risks posed by nutritional supplements, and anti-doping.