The virtual Olympic Congress is on track. At the end of September, some 2,000 registrations and contributions had been recorded. These figures reflect the public’s genuine interest in contributing actively to the online consultation. The deadline for contributions has been set for 31 December 2008. For contributions, click here.

“The Olympic Movement in society”
Contributors are inspired by the overall theme of the 2009 Olympic Congress: “The Olympic Movement in Society”. Concrete proposals were submitted on how sport can play an even more important role in a changing world. The appeal of the Olympic Games and the role the athletes have to play were other topics of high importance. Furthermore, the contributors showed a genuine interest in the themes related to young people and the digital revolution. For details on the Congress themes, click here.

From men and women from all continents, and of all age groups
The virtual Congress statistics show that contributions have been sent in from all continents. The range of contributions covers IOC members, members of National Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations, athletes and the general public. Furthermore, it is particularly encouraging to state that many contributions have been sent in from young people. “The overall mix is excellent”, commented Urs Lacotte, IOC Director General, who is in charge of the Olympic Congress.

Basis of discussion
The information gathered through the virtual Congress will form the basis of discussions at the 13th Olympic Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2009.

More information on the Congress Regulations and the Call for Contributions can be found at www.2009congress.olympic.org.

Podcasts

The 13th Olympic Congress is only one year away. Copenhagen will celebrate the event on Monday 6 October and at the same time launch the Congress logo. In 2009 Copenhagen is also staging the 121st IOC Session, which is decisive for the election of the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Taking the pulse

Taking the pulse of the Olympic Movement, analysing its strengths and weaknesses, and evaluating the opportunities and the risks it faces: these are the challenges which the IOC laid down for the 13th Olympic Congress. Since the previous Congress - the Centennial Olympic Congress held in Paris in 1994 - the world has changed. While the main concern at the previous Congress was to ensure the integration of all the constituents into the Olympic Movement, the challenge will be quite different in 2009. A guiding concept links all five themes chosen for this Olympic gathering: the role of the Olympic Movement in society and in all regions of the world.

Why hold a congress?

By taking a look at the outcome of previous congresses, the answer to this question speaks for itself. The Varna 1973 Congress rethought concept of amateurism. The new eligibility rule for the Olympic Games authorised the financial and material assistance which had in the meantime become indispensable to elite level training, while only personal profit derived from a sports activity remained prohibited. The Baden-Baden 1981 Congress paid unprecedented attention to the concerns of the athletes. For the first time, the athletes themselves played a leading role in a Congress. The Congress in Baden-Baden thus paved the way for the creation of the IOC Athletes' Commission, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2006. The 1994 Centennial Congress in Paris proved trend-setting in an area of great interest today: protection of the environment, with the environment being declared as an essential component of Olympism.

The Olympic Movement in Society

The role of the Olympic Movement in society and in all regions of the world is the guiding concept of the 13th Congress. Under this umbrella, the five themes are:

-          The Athletes

-          The Olympic Games

-          The Structure of the Olympic Movement

-          Olympism and Youth

-          The Digital Revolution

The themes, chosen by the 2009 Congress Commission, will include discussions and debates on the success of the Olympic Games, the Olympic values, the social and professional life of athletes during and after high-level sports participation, good governance, ethics of the world of sport, and youth and communication in the digital age.

Three thousand athletes in over 30 countries so far have taken advantage of the IOC Athlete Career Programme, offered in collaboration with Adecco. The programme delivered career development training and job placements, facilitating the integration of athletes into the labour market both during and at the end of their elite sporting careers. The IOC and Adecco today announced the extension of this programme until 2012. “The IOC recognises the value that these athletes bring to the world through their dedication to sport on a global stage. We were proud to first provide assistance to them with the launch of the Athlete Career Programme in 2005, and we are pleased to announce the expansion and strengthening of the Programme with Adecco,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

Advice, coaching and training
“Top athletes are passionate about their particular sport and dedicated to being the best in the world. They regularly represent their countries at events around the globe,” said Dieter Scheiff, CEO of Adecco. “We provide advice, coaching and training to prepare athletes from all over the world for a flying start to their career after sport.”

Duty of the IOC  

An athlete who has achieved the status as one of the best in the world often dedicates his time exclusively to sport. This results in a unique set of life experiences that provide some important assets in a CV. One of the main tasks of the programme is to bring forward these assets, to prepare athletes for a more successful transition and to connect them with leadership companies around the world. The IOC Athlete Career Programme will continue to increase its support of Olympic athletes around the world through the cooperation of the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, International Sport Federations and Adecco.

The 6th World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture in Busan, Korea, concluded last weekend with an Action Plan adopted by the more than 600 participants. The document, which was presented by Zhenliang He, Chairman of the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education, sets out ambitious initiatives to be taken by different stakeholders in the following fields:

- Youth

- the Youth Olympic Games

- Universality

- Post-athletic life

- OCOG and NOC education and culture programmes

- Partnerships

- The Olympic Congress

First-hand input from youngsters and Olympians
The forum's panel discussions and presentations held under the overall theme "Sport and Education for the Now Generation" guaranteed first-hand input into the Action Plan. Who could better give recommendations in the youth field than youngsters themselves, featured on the podium during the Forum? And who would be better suited to give recommendations on the post-athletic life than former athletes? Explaining how sport made her fit for life in general, Manuela Di Centa, Olympic champion in skiing, member of the IOC and the IOC's Athletes’ Commission and member of the Italian Parliament, said during her presentation in Busan: "Today, when someone asks me which of my Olympic medals I won is the most important for me…, I can only reply: 'it is not a single medal, but the path I took to get it'."

Education programmes in Olympic host countries
The Forum also focused on the question, how Olympic education can be brought to a wide range of youngsters – be it through activities on a national level or through initiatives by Olympic Organising Committees of past and future host cities. Yang Zhicheng from the Beijing 2008 Organising Committee (BOCOG) explained how the biggest Olympic education programme in history was implemented in his country in the run-up to the Games. Some 400 million children from more than 400,000 elementary and secondary schools benefitted from Olympic education, which was integrated into the regular school curriculum. The set-up of an Olympic Education System in China is one important legacy from the Games.

London spot on
Nick Fuller from the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) showed that the host city of the next Summer Olympic Games is already spot-on in regard to reaching out to young people. The day London received the flag during the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games was the starting signal for "Get Set", the London 2012 domestic education programme. A new interactive "Get Set" website can be found at  www.london2012.com/getset .

Read the full text of the Busan Action Plan which also dedicates a special section on the Youth Olympic Games, which will take place for the first time in 2010 in Singapore and will include important educational elements.

 Learn more about Busan Forum

Youngsters from around the world were on the podium last week during the 6th World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture in Busan, Korea. Under the motto "We are the Now", students from Korea, Australia, Great Britain and Jordan told how sport had helped them to develop life skills and of the difficulties they had faced to combine their sporting career with their school education.

Aiming high through sport         
"Sport has taught me about who I am, who I want to be and how to set goals," explained Clementine Pickwick, a student from Canberra in Australia. Clementine is an all-round sports talent and practises volleyball, badminton, water polo and athletics. Role models like Cathy Freeman - an indigenous Australian like Clementine – have always helped her to aim high. The skills Clementine obtained through sport, such as commitment, listening to instructions, leadership and working in a team, have benefited her far beyond sport. Still in her teens, Clementine has already received several prestigious awards such as the Rotary citizenship award and a distinction as Young Indigenous School Student of the Year for academic achievement. "All these opportunities have given me a worldwide network of friends," she raved. For the time after school she hopes to obtain a scholarship to play volleyball overseas as well as a degree in journalism.

 

Be a good student or an athlete?
Minjee Park, a student from Korea, had different experiences and had had to make a tough choice between being a good student or an athlete at a young age. Chronic asthma brought her into swimming, a sport she loved from the first minute and which also improved her health enormously. As soon as she became competitive, she had to decide if she wanted to excel in school or in the pool. "The fantastic opportunities I obtained through swimming forced me to think seriously about which direction my life would take. The pressure was on me to choose between being a student or an athlete, when what I really wanted was to be both; a path that did not exist".

Minjee's and the others' experiences were a key input in the formulation of the Busan Action Plan, which will be published shortly on www.olympic.org/busanforum .