Gilbert Felli, the IOC's Olympic Games executive director and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan are among the panelists discussing urban and environmental sustainability objectives of the Olympics. (UMVO)(ATR) The World Union of Olympic Cities, UMVO, holds a first-ever general assembly, urging Olympic cities and those with aspirations to host the Games to join the association.
The two-day Lausanne Summit attracted nearly 90 participants and organizers are keen to capitalize on its success by adding members.
“We are pleased that the first General Assembly for the UMVO was well received. Olympic cities have long needed a platform for exchange,” said Daniel Brelaz, Mayor of Lausanne and president of the Lausanne-based UMVO.
There are four categories of membership:
* Active members - cities that have hosted or are in the process of hosting the Olympic Games;
* Associate members: cities selected by the IOC as official candidates for hosting the Olympic Games;
* Honorary members: persons recognized by the IOC as having provided eminent services toward the organisation of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement;
* Invited members: cities that are not eligible to be active members or associate members but that have shown special interest and contributions to the Olympic Movement and its values.
The UMVO aims to provide a platform for networking and the exchange of experiences between past Olympic cities, future host cities and those with ambitions to stage the Olympic or Youth Olympic Games. It is directed at mayors and city officials rather than bid committees to encourage open discussion about the opportunities and challenges that host cities face.
The organization's goals are endorsed by the IOC; the IOC's director general Urs Lacotte opened the conference Oct. 10.
Michael Knight, former Minister of the Olympic Games for New South Wales, Australia, explained how the 2000 Sydney Olympics offered a political legacy by introducing new administrative processes to the systems used by the government.
Vancouver, London and Sochi – the next three Olympic cities – sent officials to the meeting.
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, spoke about how the 2010 Games have helped to push forward infrastructure and social projects.
Sochi Mayor Vladimir Afanasenkov gave a presentation focusing on the 2014 Olympics lasting legacies for Russia, including environmental benefits, and detailed the new city government departments overseeing aspects of infrastructure serving the Games.
At the UMVO general assembly cities expressed the need for the association and their interest in ensuring that it continues to grow.
Of the four finalists in the race for the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo had the largest presence at the conference with six representatives, including three from the city's metropolitan government and Yasuhiro Nakamori, international relations chief for the Japan Olympic Committee.
However, bid leaders from Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo were making their first presentations to an Olympics audience on the other side of the world, at the Pan American Sports Organization Around 90 participants took part in the Lausanne Summit held at the Beau-Rivage Palace.(UMVO)general assembly in Acapulco where almost 20 IOC members were in attendance.
Also at the Lausanne Summit were cities with plans to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The most high profile were Hyeok Seung, mayor of PyeongChang, South Korea, and Wilfrid Spronk, leader of the Munich bid.
France intends to launch a 2018 bid and the cities of Grenoble and Annecy were represented. The French NOC is due to announce its bid city next March. There were also three representatives from Geneva; the Swiss city is also expected to launch a 2018 bid. A leader of a group from the U.S. city of Reno, Nevada which hopes to one day bid for a Winter Games attended along with a representative from 1960 host Squaw Valley.
Singapore's 2010 Youth Olympic Games organizers also had a presence. Of the four cities in the race to stage the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012, Innsbruck, Austria, and Lillehammer, Norway, were in the audience. The Finnish city of Kuopio and Harbin, China, did not send officials.
The UMVO plans to hold general assemblies biennially to coincide with the summer and winter Olympic cycle, but it may meet more often if there is a demand. A complete post-event report will be available in the coming weeks.
For more information about the Lausanne Summit 2008 and the UMVO, visit www.olympiccities.org
With reporting from Mark Bisson.
For general comments or questions,
click here
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
