The National Olympic Academy (NOC) organized in cooperation with the European Olympic Academies (EOA) with great success, the 6th Congress of the European Olympic Academies, in Ancient Olympia, which was considered one of the best in the history of the institution until today!
The theme of the conference was: «Perspectives of the Olympic movement after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games».
The atmosphere was festive as for the first time the annual Congress of the European Olympic Academies was hosted in Greece, in an excellent timing, a few days after the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris, 20 years after the Athens Olympic Games.
The participants were welcomed by Spyros Capralos, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, President of the European Olympic Committees and member of the IOC, Elias Dalaenas, Vice President of the National Olympic Academy, Isidoros Kouvelos, President of the International Olympic Academy, Professor Manfred Laemmer, President of the European Olympic Academies and Dr. Uri Schaefer, President of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education.
Representatives from 27 countries participated in the Conference, the largest participation of any previous Conference to date.
In the first part of the lectures Spyros Capralos, President of the European Olympic Committees and Dr. Klaus Schormann, President of the International Modern Pentathlon Association, spoke about the actions and perspectives of the Olympic movement, as well as the upcoming changes in the content of the Olympic Programme. In the second part of the lectures, Nuria Puig Brandes, Director of International Relations and Academic Programmes of the Lausanne Olympic Study Centre and Xenia Kourgouzova, Senior Education Manager of the International Olympic Committee (OVEP), spoke about the importance of Olympic Education, the Olympic Values Education Programme, upcoming partnerships and actions such as the creation of a common platform and the challenges they are called upon to manage after the Paris Olympic Games.
After the lectures, a visit to the Pierre de Coubertin monument followed, where the olive tree - symbol of peace - was planted in memory of Pierre de Coubertin by the President of the International Modern Pentathlon Association Dr. Klaus Schormann, the President of the European Olympic Committees and President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and IOC member Spyros Capralos and the President of the International Olympic Academy Isidoros Kouvelos. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Modern Pentathlon Federation Dora Pallis, members of the Board of Directors of ETHNOA and the Modern Pentathlon Federation as well as the representatives of the European Olympic Academies.
In the afternoon of the same day, 4 workshops were successfully completed with interesting lectures and interactive workshops which gave the participants the opportunity for further deepening and exchange of views on various topics.
An innovation of this year's Conference was the daily morning exercise of the participants, «sport for all - sport for all».
On the second day of the Conference, the main theme of the presentations was «The legacy and the stigma of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games» with the speakers Professor Dionysios Ganga, Professor Arnaud Richard President of the Olympic Academy of France and Ioannis Psilopoulos, Secretary General of the European Commission Fair Play Movement. During the workshops of the day, representatives of the Olympic Academies discussed and exchanged views with the participants and came to interesting conclusions. In the workshops, presentations were made by the members of ETHNOA, Professor Xenia Argeitaki, Secretary General Dora Pallis and Dr Kyriaki Udatzi.
There was also a visit with a guided tour by the Archaeologist Konstantinos Antonopoulos to the Archaeological site of Olympia and a rich social program for acquaintance between the members of the Olympic Academies.
On the same afternoon, a symbolic ceremony was held on Thursday 26 September 2024 at the City Hall of Ancient Olympia in the presence of representatives of the European Olympic Academies, with which the International Fair Play Passport officially acquired its headquarters in Ancient Olympia. During this symbolic ceremony, in the beautiful area of the City Hall of Olympia, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Municipality of Ancient Olympia, ETHNOA and the creator of the International Fair Play Passport.
The Memorandum was signed by the Mayor of Ancient Olympia, Aris Panagiotopoulos, the Secretary General of the National Olympic Academy, Dora Pallis and the creator of the International Fair Play Passport Professor Gennaro Testa.
On the last day of the Conference, the proceedings were a great success. The main topic was the cooperation between the Olympic Academies and the Universities. Konstantinos Georgiadis, Professor of the University of Peloponnese and member of ETHNOA, Dr Stella Livadi, and a panel of participants in the postgraduate programme of the International Olympic Academy, spoke about Olympic education in higher education and the legacy of the Paris Olympic Games.
The Director of NTHNOA, Denise Panagopoulou, developed the educational programmes and the upcoming actions of NTHNOA and together with the partners of the National Olympic Academy, Dr Pella Petrakis-Kavvadia and Gennaro Testa, Professor of Sociology of Sport at the University of Florence, presented the Academy's new educational programme «Olympic Values as an attitude to life and health», while Bastian Grueger developed the actions of the European Olympic Academies.
The conference ended with the conclusion of the General Assembly and was followed by the Gala Dinner in the beautiful garden of the Europa Hotel in a very warm and friendly atmosphere.
This was followed by the EOA Flame Awards, where the winners for the best Olympic Education programme were the National Olympic Academy of Greece together with the German Olympic Academy and for the best Olympic Legacy programme the French Olympic Academy.
The ceremony was also marked by a historic first in the category of Olympic Education, with the awarding of two outstanding National Olympic Academy programmes which were equal to each other.
These two Olympic Education programmes are a powerful example of how to integrate and promote Olympic values in national education systems.
The National Olympic Academy of Greece (NOCA) was awarded with the first prize of the European Olympic Academies for the highly successful Olympic Education educational programme «The Olympic Week in Schools - The Olympic Week on the Road to Paris 2024» which was attended by 234,071 students from almost 5,376 schools in Greece, Cyprus and the Greek community.
And the German Olympic Academy, with the educational programme Olympia ruft: Mach mit!), which promotes Olympic education through interdisciplinary teaching material designed for primary and secondary schools, with a significant impact on the integration of Olympic Values, such as respect, into the school curriculum.
The winner in the category of Olympic Heritage was the «Grande Collecte des Archives du Sport» (Grande Collecte des Archives du Sport) of the French Olympic Academy. A pioneering programme that invites the public to contribute sport-related material to national archives, ensuring that crucial aspects of France's sporting history, including women's sports and Paralympic -sports, are preserved for future generations.
The project was supported by the French Ministry of Culture and recognized as part of the Cultural Olympiad by the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee.
