Bach inaugurated an Athletes Forum in Asia and shows himself side by side with athletes at the beginning of the year

Accompaniment, empowerment and tools for athletes. The three axes promoted by Thomas Bach stand out as undisputed priorities on the part of the German boss in the first quarter of 2023. After his 11-day trip to seven nations in Central America and the Caribbean, the president of the International Olympic Committee opened the Athletes Forum of the Asian Olympic Council with a speech full of strong messages about the active and participatory role he intends for athletes, less than 500 days before the Olympic Games.

Regarding the opening of the Forum, which took place in Bangkok between last Saturday and Sunday with the presence of 88 representatives from 43 countries, Bach opened the session through a video in which he placed the athletes in “the heart of the Olympic movement” and celebrated that they have the new colloquium as it is an “opportunity for them to make their voices heard on the problems that affect them all”.

In his speech, which did not have specific announcements or references to the Russia case and a possible boycott of Paris 2024, the head of the IOC since 2013 connected the motto of Olympism renewed in 2021 (“Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together”) with the brand new space that Asian athletes will enjoy by highlighting the unity and solidarity that should exist. In turn, the most categorical praise was given to the Asian Olympic Council for allowing athletes to “lead by example and be at the center of the action” and especially for “empowering” them.

As for Bach’s aforementioned “Olympic tour” of the Central American continent, carried out in conjunction with Neven Ilic, leader of Panam Sports, it was characterized by numerous launches, including the Athletic Court of the Pan-American Stadium in Havana, in Cuba, and the headquarters of Centro Caribe Sports in the Dominican Republic, in addition to new offices of the Aruba Olympic Committee.

During the visit carried out in early March, both leaders not only held formal meetings with authorities from the different CONs, but also generated multiple experiences and face-to-face dialogue with athletes from Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Barbados and Aruba: from attending training sessions to playing informal football games. The approach to children and young people was also a central pillar of the heads of the IOC and Panam Sports.

It was precisely during his stay in Cuba that Bach discussed publicly for the last time the controversial and latent topic of Russian athletes with a view to the next Olympic party. There, he evaded a definitive answer about a potential boycott of Paris 2024 and explained that it is not yet time to make strong decisions for the next Olympic Games. His position on the matter took many turns as the war went on.