Slovenian NOC Given High Marks by IOC President

(ATR) IOC President Thomas Bach was effusive in his praise during his visit to Slovenia on Friday April 15.

Earning top honors was the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Slovenia, who Bach said " has taken a leading role, if not the leading role, among the NOCs of the world to break Olympic Agenda 2020 down from the international level to the national level, to put the athletes at the heart of all its efforts.

"Sport is always about people, it is always about the ones who are practicing sport. Sport is always in the middle of society and has a social responsibility to make sports development more sustainable."

The IOC says that the Slovenian NOC has created its own strategic roadmap for the future of Slovenian sport while fully incorporating Olympic Agenda 2020 in an "impressive" 43-page booklet.

Bach spent a busy day in Slovenia, as he helped inaugurate a new Olympic Museum, attended the unveiling of the Slovenian team uniforms for Rio 2016, and met with the Slovenian president and prime minister, among others, in the morning.

During the afternoon, Bach took part in a warm-up for an "Olympic Challenge" in the Kodeljevo Sports Park in the capital Ljubljana, Slovenian Olympians of the past and future joined in the event, which featured a group of sport-for-all athletes running around the stadium’s 400-meter track.

The whirlwind visit ended on Friday night with a gala event to raise money to support athletes from underprivileged families.

Written by Gerard Farek

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