/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / Events • News/ 0 Comments

SENEGAL AND THE IOC AGREE TO POSTPONE THE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES DAKAR 2022 TO 2026.

Senegal and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have mutually agreed to postpone the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Dakar 2022 to 2026.

President Macky Sall’s proposal was welcomed by IOC President Thomas Bach, following in-depth discussions on the subject. This postponement meets the requirement of responsibility and the concern for efficiency imposed by current circumstances.

The postponement of Dakar 2022 allows the IOC, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Federations (IFs) to better plan their activities, which have been strongly affected by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, by the subsequent postponements of major international sports events, and by the operational and financial consequences of the global health crisis.

At the same time, it allows Senegal to carry on the excellent preparations for the Youth Olympic Games. The two leaders, who praised the progress made so far, have jointly renewed their confidence in Dakar 2022 President Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, IOC Member in Senegal, and both remain fully committed to the great success of these Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever to be organised in Africa.

The IOC and Senegal understand that this news will be disappointing for many young athletes. Both parties can only appeal to their understanding. This agreement results from the large scale of the operational challenges which the IOC, the NOCs and the IFs are facing following the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. With this in mind, the IOC will continue to offer all IFs and NOC Continental Associations the full content of the educational programmes of the Youth Olympic Games. This will allow for the objectives of this very important and ophthalmic hypertension component of the YOG to be maintained through the many events organised between now and 2026, in particular during the Continental Youth Games.

“This amicable agreement illustrates the mutual trust between Senegal and the IOC. I would like to express my sincere thanks to President Macky Sall, a great friend and supporter of the Olympic Movement, for this exceptional relationship of trust and quality. For all these reasons, I am sure that, together, we will organise fantastic Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 for Senegal, the entire African continent and all the young athletes of the world,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.

“I would like to reiterate that the IOC has my full support for the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games, postponed to 2026. I take this opportunity to reaffirm my confidence in the Executive Board and welcome the commitment of its teams, working side by side with us, to make Dakar 2026, the first Olympic event in Africa, a successful and memorable occasion”, said President Macky Sall.

The agreement was approved today by the IOC Executive Board, and will be submitted to the IOC Session for ratification this Friday, 17 July 2020.

“Article of the IOC”

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / Events • News/ 0 Comments

IOC ANNOUNCES ADAPTED TOKYO 2020 QUALIFICATION SYSTEMS FOR EACH SPORT.

Further to the approval of a series of amendments to the Tokyo 2020 qualification system principles by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Qualification Task Force in April 2020, the review of the International Federation (IF) qualification processes for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and each sport has now been finalised.

The IOC has been working closely with all the IFs to determine the necessary adaptations to the Olympic qualification systems for their respective sports, and athletes and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have been consulted as well.

A representative group of NOCs was involved in the review process, and athlete consultation was sought through each IF.

A total of 57 per cent of all the qualification places had been confirmed by the time the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 were postponed. In order to adapt the qualification systems for the remaining places to the new timing of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the qualification system principles were updated, approved by the Qualification Task Force (acting on behalf of the IOC Executive Board) and shared with all the IFs.

The updates included a number of changes, such as an extended qualification period and new deadlines:

  • A new qualification deadline of 29 June 2021, based on the Olympic Games starting on 23 July (day of the Opening Ceremony);
  • The potential extension of sport-specific qualification periods if such an extension respects the qualification period deadline of 29 June 2021;
  • The revised final entries deadline of 5 July 2021;
  • If a qualification system specified age eligibility criteria, the criteria should be extended to cover the new dates, allowing athletes who were eligible in July 2020 to remain eligible in 2021. All eligibility and age criteria would be at the discretion of the respective IFs.

Based on these revised qualification system principles, the IOC Sports Department worked in close collaboration with all the IFs to determine if any revisions were necessary.

There were four rounds of approvals from the IOC Executive Board (EB) Qualification Task Force, on 25 April, 6 May, 13 May and 7 July 2020.

The main objective was to implement qualification systems as close as possible to those approved by the IOC EB in February 2018.

The following sports/disciplines have finished their qualification, and the quotas have already been allocated. Team selection remains to be determined by the NOCs, as in all the sports the quotas are allocated to the NOCs. The sports/disciplines are:

  • Cycling (Road and Track), Equestrian (Dressage, Eventing and Jumping), Hockey and Softball.

The following sports/disciplines are continuing with their qualification process as initially approved, and will simply extend the qualification period to reflect the new Games dates in 2021:

  • Archery, Artistic Swimming, Baseball, Basketball 3×3, Boxing, Canoe (Slalom and Sprint), Diving, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics (Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline), Handball, Karate, Marathon Swimming, Modern Pentathlon, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon and Water Polo.

The following sports/disciplines have made minor adjustments to their qualification systems, such as extended periods to obtain minimum criteria, clarification of the process for order metformin at low prices of any unused athlete places, and clarification on the use of specific events in line with the adapted 2021 IF calendars. The sports/disciplines concerned are:

  • Rowing, Swimming, Badminton, Skateboarding, Taekwondo and Wrestling.

The following sports/disciplines have made major adjustments to their qualification systems:

  • Athletics, Cycling (BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing and Mountain Bike), Weightlifting, Basketball and Judo.

The age requirements of the sports concerned have been amended to reflect the new Tokyo 2020 dates. As a consequence, athletes who will meet the age limits in 2021 but did not in 2020 can participate in the Games. At the same time, athletes who would have been within the age limit in 2020 but no longer in 2021 can still participate in the Games. There are two exceptions, however:

  • Boxing: The age requirements have been adjusted and increased by one year. Athletes must have been born between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 2002 to take part.
  • Football: It has been confirmed that athletes who were entitled to compete in July 2020 will remain eligible in July 2021. The maximum age for the men’s event was 23, but for Tokyo 2020 this will be 24. Additionally, the rule of having three athletes per team with no age restrictions remains valid.

All the qualification event dates and locations remain to be determined, given the ongoing global situation. These dates will be confirmed in due course by the respective IFs.

All decisions have been communicated to the IFs, and the full details for each individual sport can be found in the respective qualification system per sport.

As part of the work of the “Here We Go” Task Force currently addressing the list of issues raised by the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the IOC Qualification Task Force was created to address all items related to the Tokyo 2020 qualification system principles. The Task Force is composed of Robin Mitchell, IOC Executive Board member and President of the Oceania Olympic Committees (ONOC); Nenad Lalovic, IOC Executive Board member and President of United World Wrestling (UWW); and Kirsty Coventry, IOC Executive Board member and Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

“Article of the IOC”

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • Uncategorized/ 0 Comments

RNOSC Quarterly Newsletter – April to June 2020.

The RNOSC Quarterly Newsletter of three months, from April to June has been released and you can find it here: RNOSC Quarterly Newsletter – April to June 2020.

Though we are still facing this pandemic, we managed to organize some sports activities within context of COVID-19 such: virtual meetings with national sports federations, Genocide Memorial Tournament 2020 and as contribution of the Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee in fighting the COVID-19, we have organized a series of webinars with topics related to the COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 impact on our athletes and Rwanda Sport Movement in general and we donated to more than 700 motorbike taxi men and women in Kigali City as part of the Olympic Day 2020 celebrations.

Happy Reading!

 

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“The Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC) has put in place this quarterly newsletter as one of its communication strategies to share its activities with the Rwanda Sport Movement, increase its visibility and promote Olympism in Rwanda and abroad.”

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • Uncategorized/ 0 Comments

RNOSC celebrated the Olympic Day 2020.

Due to the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions in force, The Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC) celebrated the Olympic Day by donating the hand sanitizers to about 700 taxi-moto riders and hosting a webinar with topic “Olympic Day, How Olympic values and sport values can be used to fight COVID-19 and its consequences” – On Tuesday, June 23, as Rwanda joined the world in marking this year’s Olympic Day.

The President of Federation of Motorcycle Cooperatives, Mr. Daniel Ngarambe officially receiving the donation from the IOC Member and RNOSC First Vice President Mrs. Félicité Rwemarika.

The donation to moto riders, according to the IOC Member and the RNOSC First Vice President Félicité Rwemarika, will help the moto riders and passengers to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic as new cases in the country have surged over the last two weeks.

The event was graced by the IOC Member and RNOSC 1st Vice-President Mrs. Félicité Rwemarika as the guest of honor, Mr. Gervais Munyanziza who was the Ministry of Sports representative and the President of Federation of Motorcycle Cooperatives (FERWACOTAMO) Mr. Daniel Ngarambe.

From Left: The Ministry of Sports representative Mr. Gervais Munyanziza, IOC Member and RNOSC 1st Vice-President Mrs. Félicité Rwemarika, President of Federation of Motorcycle Cooperatives (FERWACOTAMO) Mr. Daniel Ngarambe, RNOSC Advisor and President of National Olympic Academy Mr. Eugene Nzabanterura and President of Rwanda Olympians Association who is also the Secretary General Mr. Alexis Sharangabo.

“In recent years, we usually marked the day by organising youth competitions but unfortunately it was not possible this time round due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said at the function to hand over the donation in Downtown, Nyarugenge District.

“Motor riders are one of the most exposed people, and at the same time the hand sanitisers will also protect their passengers. That is why we chose this particular group for the donation. We are happy to join the government’s efforts in tackling the pandemic.” she added.

The IOC Member and RNOSC 1st Vice-President Mrs. Félicité Rwemarika speaking during the Olympic Day 2020 celebrations. 

The ministry of Sports representative Mr. Gervais Munyanziza applauded the initiative and reminded that everyone is concerned in this fight so that the Ministry of Sports can resume mass sports very soon and he requested the moto riders to use the hand sanitizers properly.

Mr. Gervais Munyanziza, the Ministry of Sports Representative.

The President of Federation of Motorcycle Cooperatives (FERWACOTAMO) Mr. Daniel Ngarambe thanked the Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee for the support and to have been thought of in these difficult times. He promised the participation of Taxi-motos in the fight against the Coronavirus.

The President of Federation of Motorcycle Cooperatives (FERWACOTAMO) Mr. Daniel Ngarambe.

Also present at the event was a team of athletes led by volleyball star Olivier Ntagengwa, President of the RNOSC Athletes Commission and a group of Rwandan Olympians led by their president Mr. Alexis Sharangabo.

Athletes at the Olympic Day 2020 celebrations.

Olympians at the Olympic Day 2020 celebrations.

Olympic Day is a global celebration of the founding of the International Olympic Committee and the modern Olympic Movement by Pierre de Coubertain in 1894.

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News/ 0 Comments

IOC and WHO strengthen ties to advocate healthy lifestyles.

IN THE MIDST OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THAT CONTINUES TO AFFECT PEOPLE’S LIVES AROUND THE WORLD, THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) AND THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) ARE STRENGTHENING THEIR EFFORTS TO PROMOTE HEALTHY LIFESTYLES, INCLUDING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, SPORT AND ACTIVE RECREATION, AS A TOOL FOR HEALTH ACROSS THE GLOBE.

Through the new Cooperation Agreement that was signed today at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, the IOC and WHO are demonstrating their shared commitment both to promoting healthy society through sport, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 3 (“Good health and well-being”), and to contributing to the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). 

“Over the last few months in the current crisis, we have all seen how important sport and physical activity are for physical and mental health. Sport can save lives,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “We will benefit from WHO advice when addressing the challenges of the post-coronavirus society, where health will play a much more prominent role in public policies. We look forward to mental disorders even closer with WHO. The IOC calls on the governments of the world to include sport in their post-crisis support programmes because of the important role of sport in the prevention of NCDs, but also of communicable diseases.”

He continued: “As we are preparing for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in a safe environment for all participants, we are happy and grateful that we can continue to rely on the valuable advice of WHO.”

“I am pleased to formalise this longstanding partnership with the International Olympic Committee,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “WHO works not only to respond to diseases, but also to help people realise their healthiest lives, and this partnership will do exactly that. Physical activity is one of the keys to good health and well-being.”

WHO was instrumental in sharing technical advice with the IOC during the discussions that led to the postponement of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and continues to give advice as it gathers additional knowledge and understanding of COVID-19.

The IOC and sports organisations recently benefited from WHO guidelines on mass gatherings, aiming specifically to provide additional support to sports event organisers and host countries in developing a risk-assessment process, identifying mitigation activities and making an informed evidence-based decision on hosting any sporting events. The guidelines can be found here.

As part of the new agreement, the IOC and WHO will continue to find synergies and act in concert to promote healthy lifestyles and grassroots sports activities worldwide, as well as fight physical inactivity. Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for NCDs such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and obesity, which cause millions of deaths worldwide every year. In that specific area, WHO is guided by the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030, with a target of a 15 per cent relative reduction in the global prevalence of physical inactivity in adults and adolescents by 2030.

The agreement will also allow the two organisations to work on new projects addressing emerging issues such as metal health.

In the context of the Olympic Games, the agreement will aim to strengthen the health component and legacy of the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, in particular by addressing mental health, water quality and air pollution, in addition to emergencies and health security.

The key objectives of the collaboration are as follows: 

– Objective 1: Joint action to support communications and advocacy for health and physical activity

– Objective 2: Align policy to strengthen the support on NCD prevention and healthier lifestyles through sport 

– Objective 3: Strengthen the health preparedness and legacy of the Olympic Games

– Objective 4: Strengthen health promotion, policy and action through the Olympic Movement  

– Objective 5: Support and strengthen collaboration on NCD prevention and physical activity promotion between the health and sports sectors

The IOC and WHO have enjoyed a longstanding partnership since 1984, when the first MoU was signed. This partnership has led to numerous joint initiatives and collaboration projects aiming to promote healthy lifestyles and grassroots sports activities worldwide and fight physical inactivity, as a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases.

<Source: IOC Website.>

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • Press Releases • Rwanda CGA/ 0 Comments

#Kwibuka26: RNOSC and RCGA Message for Kwibuka 26.

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC) and Rwanda Commonwealth Games Association (RCGA) message to the Rwanda Sport Movement and the entire Olympic and Commonwealth Games Federation family regarding the 26th Commemoration of the Genocide against Tutsi :

“……………. It is a time Rwandans and survivors need much more support from you. A special thought of our Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence and our CGF values of humanity, equality and destiny would be enough to stop the revisionism and the denial of the Genocide against Tutsi. It would support their usual resilience and would demonstrate to them that life is going on……”

For the full message, click here for English version and here for the French version.

Together WE REMEMBER, UNITE, RENEW.

“Building a peaceful and a better world through sport and Olympic ideals”.

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • News • News • Non classifié(e) • Press Releases • Uncategorized • Uncategorized @rw/ 0 Comments

RNOSC Quarterly Newsletter of January to March 2020.

The RNOSC quarterly Newsletter of three months  of January to March 2020 has been released (Download it here: RNOSC Newsletter – Jan to March 2020).

 

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC) has put in place this quarterly newsletter as one of its communication strategies to share its activities with the Rwanda Sport Movement and to increase its visibility in Rwanda and abroad.

Even if the whole world is experiencing one of the toughest moments of its history due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are delighted to publish the new edition of our newsletter which highlights the activities of the RNOSC, as well as other sports activities in Rwanda and around the world. It will cover the period from January to March 2020; putting emphasis not only on how sport is affected by the coronavirus pandemic but also what is being done to fight the Covid-19.

Sport has played a very big role in the past to fight many other tragic things against the society and now is the time for us all sportsmen and women to get together and implement all the guidelines and measures set by the Government of Rwanda to fight coronavirus and WE should be the good examples to the entire community.

“STAY AT HOME and BE ACTIVE” Together we will win against COVID-19.

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • Uncategorized/ 0 Comments

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 have officially been postponed to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.

IOC Statement

THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC), THOMAS BACH, AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN, ABE SHINZO, HELD A CONFERENCE CALL THIS MORNING TO DISCUSS THE CONSTANTLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT WITH REGARD TO COVID-19 AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES TOKYO 2020.

They were joined by Mori Yoshiro, the President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee; the Olympic Minister, Hashimoto Seiko; the Governor of Tokyo, Koike Yuriko; the Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission, John Coates; IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper; and the IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, Christophe Dubi.

President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and what it is doing to people’s lives and the significant impact it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games.

In a very friendly and constructive meeting, the two leaders praised the work of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and noted the great progress being made in Japan to fight against COVID-19.

The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is “accelerating”. There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.

In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have meldonium is justified that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

/ By RUGIGANA Jean Claude / News • Uncategorized/ 0 Comments

RNOSC Brief following the IOC Communique and Video Conference with IOC President regarding the updates on corona virus issues 4 months before the Tokyo 2020.

Communique

On 17th March 2020 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a communique regarding the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and on 18th March 2020, President of IOC Dr. Thomas Bach had a video conference with the IOC stakeholders updating them on corona virus issues four months before the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 24th. He particularly had discussions with the Presidents of African National Olympic Committees at 17:30.

  1. President Thomas Bach informed the NOC Presidents that the situation around the COVID-19 virus is impacting the preparations for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and is changing day by day, but the IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.
  2. President Bach has confidence that the many measures being taken by many authorities around the world will help contain the situation of the COVID-19 virus and will continue to act in a responsible way. The IOC will always be guided by the following principles: “1. to protect the health of everyone involved and to support the containment of the virus and 2. to painkillers the interests of the athletes and of Olympic sport”.
  3. To date, 57% of the athletes are already qualified for the Games. For the remaining 43% per cent of places, the IOC will work with the IFs to make any necessary and practical adaptations to their respective qualification systems for Tokyo 2020, in line with the following principles:
  4. All quota places that have already been allocated to date remain allocated to the NOCs and athletes that obtained them.
  5. The possibility remains to use existing and scheduled qualification events, wherever these still have fair access for all athletes and teams.
  6. All necessary adaptations to qualification systems and all allocation of remaining places will be based on on-field results (e.g. IF ranking or historical results) and reflect where possible the existing principles of the respective qualification systems (e.g. use of rankings or continental/regional specific event results).
  7. Any increase in athlete quotas will be considered on a case-by-case basis under exceptional circumstances, with the support of the Organizing Committee Tokyo 2020.
  8. Any necessary revisions to the Tokyo 2020 qualification systems by sport will be published by the beginning of April 2020 and communicated to all stakeholders.

After consultations and discussions, all the IOC stakeholders (IFs, NOCs and Athletes) supported the initiatives taken by President Thomas Bach and the entire team of IOC and requested to remain regularly updated on the coronavirus issues and the preparations of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.