Olympic Summit Could Bring Esport Statement

(ATR) A possible roadmap to the involvement of esport with the Olympics could be one of the outcomes of the Olympic Summit December 8 in Lausanne.

The annual meeting organized by IOC President Thomas Bach will have 19 dozen participants this year, its seventh edition.

The agenda includes some hefty topics that likely will challenge the four hours scheduled for the summit. The Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration, Olympic Agenda 2020/New Norm, Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2022, ASOIF and AWOIF good governance reports and the Olympism in Action Forum, held in October 2018 in Buenos Aires, are all listed for the meeting at the Lausanne Palace Hotel.

The IOC president has said the group may be able to come to a consensus statement on the the involvement of esport in the Olympic Movement.

The chair of the International Testing Agency, Valérie Fourneyron, will be a guest at the summit. She’ll present the progress of the new agency formed six months ago.

No media are permitted to cover the closed-door meeting, but statements are expected at the conclusion.

Other members of the IOC Executive Board invited include Kirsty Coventry, Nenad Lalovic, and Ivo Ferriani.

In all, 11 IOC members will take part, though several are invited in other capacities.

Despite increasing emphasis by the IOC on gender equality, only two women are members of the summit.

Presidents of international federations attending are Sebastian Coe from IAAF, Morinari Watanabe from gymnastics, Jan Dijkema of the International Skating Union and René Fasel from the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The federation presence at the summit also includes Francesco Ricci Bitti from the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, Gian-Franco Kasper of the Association of International Olympic Winter Federations and Raffaele Chiulli, from the Global Association of International Sports Federations.

Traditionally invited but unable to attend due to prior commitments are the presidents of FIFA and FINA.

Leaders of the three largest NOCs are always included in the summit: Chinese Olympic Committee President Gou Zhongwen, U.S. Olympic Committee president Larry Probst and Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

Other summiteers this year include Robin Mitchell, acting president of the Association of National Olympic Committees and Andrew Parsons of the International Paralympic Committee, both IOC members.

WADA President and IOC member Craig Reedie will participate by phone.

John Coates is listed as a summit guest even though he is an influential IOC member, chair of the IOC Legal Affairs Commission as well as the coordination commission for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Coates is invited in his role as president of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Reported by Ed Hula.