Andorra la Vella, 28th September – the NOC has rolled out the red carpet for the EOC Executive Committee Members, in the Principality for their 3rd meeting of the year, president Patrick Hickey (IRL) vice president Alexander Kozlovsky (RUS), secretary general Raffaele Pagnozzi (ITA), treasurer Kikis Lazarides (CYP) and their fellow EC members having gladly accepted an invitation from NOC president Jaume Marti Mandico and secretary general Manuel Fernandez Hermoso on occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Olympic Committee of Andorra.
This rendezvous in the Principality of Andorra, one of the world’s smallest states with its 85,000 inhabitants and less than 500 km2 of land, will also be an occasion in which to admire the beautiful Pyrenees and learn more about this place set in the mountains between Spain and France, the origins of which date back to the days of Charlemagne, and which is governed by a rather unique peer system whereby power is technically shared by the President of France and the Spanish Bishop of Urgell as co-princes.
The NOC, which, as said, this year celebrates its 40th anniversary, was recognised at the IOC at the Session held in Rome in 1975, but organised sport in Andorra does actually date back to 1932 with the creation of the Ski Club of Andorra. And this micro-state has indeed fielded a team at every summer and winter Games since the Innsbruck 1976 Winter Olympics.
The programme for the celebrations of this anniversary include an exhibition on the history of Andorran Olympism, which was officially inaugurated today in the presence of numerous Andorran and international personalities, including delegations from the NOCs that, like Andorra, take part in the Games of the Small States of Europe, a sports event that has taken place every two years since 1985.