Friday, the 15th of March, the EWF President Conflitti and General Secretary Mihajlovic along with triple Olympic Champion Pyrros Dimas and Organization Director Iris Vlachouticos paid a visit to the International Olympic Academy’s headquarters in Athens, where they had the great pleasure to meet Isidoros Kouvelos, the President of the International Olympic Academy and the IOA Consultant Dionysis Gangas, with whom discussions were held about the importance of education and the spread of Olympic values in close collaboration with the European weightlifting family.
The meeting was crowned by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations, which will have as its main objective cooperation for the organization of mutually beneficial initiatives in the following directions:
– Seminars on Olympic values for weightlifting athletes, NFs management, coaches, and ITOs at the IOA premises in Ancient Olympia;
– Joint research projects of interest to both Parties;
– Training camps for athletes and coaches at the IOA premises in Ancient Olympia;
– EWF support for the enrollment in the IOA master’s studies of prominent European weightlifters for the Master’s Degree Program in “Olympic Studies, Olympic Education, Organization and Management of Olympic Events.
The relevant details of the above fields of cooperation will be discussed and agreed in details in due course, while specific contracts related to the aforementioned initiatives should be established independently of this present Memorandum of Understanding.
Last year, the EWF organized the first edition of the EWF Cup right at the location of the International Olympic Academy in Ancient Olympia, the cradle of global Olympism, on which occasion the IOA was able to get acquainted not only with an innovative competition, but also with the ambitions of the European Weightlifting Federation to promote our sport under the umbrella of Pierre de Coubertin’s values.
The IOA President said that everyone involved in sport, especially in the Olympic movement, should visit at least ones in a life ancient Olympia and International Olympic Academy: “We welcome weightlifters from Europe and all over the world.”
“We are more than satisfied about this important step undertaken with the IOA with the support of its President Kouvelos and his staff. The EWF has now the opportunity and tool to promote and spread as much as ever the Olympic values that are leading our daily activity in sport. Special thanks again to our hosts, colleagues, and friends Pyrros Dimas and Iris Vlachoutsicos for their support in this matter.”, stated the EWF President at the end of the successful meeting.
Pyrros Dimas completed the Conflitti’s comments and mentioned: “Olympic Values and Olympic Education is now more than ever important for the youth not only in sport but also for life itself. The MoU between IOA and EWF sets a strong Olympic Values pillar for all european weightlifters!”