Sunday 14 June 2015

Teens Get Active with Olympic Moves

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

Teens Get Active with Olympic Moves
©NOC*NSF
12/06/2015
On 5 June, 6,000 teenagers from 200 schools across the Netherlands came together to participate in the final of the “Olympic Moves” programme. Held in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, the participants competed in 14 sports disciplines.
Olympic Moves is the result of a partnership between Worldwide TOP Partner Coca-Cola, the IOC and NOC*NSF. It is the largest school sports programme in the Netherlands, and through a combination of sport, music and entertainment, it encourages young people...etcthe largest school sports programme in the Netherlands, and through a combination of sport, music and entertainment, it encourages young people to get active and contributes to their development. The final was the culmination of months of training and competition.
NOC*NSF General Manager Mr Gerard Dielessen said: “Via Olympic Moves, we want to reach and inspire pupils of secondary schools with the power of sports and actively carry out the Olympic values of ‘excellence, ‘respect’ and ‘friendship’. Exercising together offers young people lots of fun, enthusiasm and satisfaction, and contributes to their personal development. We win with sport.”
This year, Olympic Moves was promoted widely across social media, including Facebook, and became a trending topic on Twitter, with 2.5 million impressions.

For over 10 years, Olympic Moves has been encouraging change and getting over 150,000 students a year physically active. To see further examples of how Olympic Moves has been used as a powerful tool to engage young people, see: http://www.olympic.org/news/olympic-moves-programme-inspiring-change/244316.
The NOC*NSF and Coca-Cola are already planning to further develop the next phase of the Olympic Moves project in the Netherlands, including bringing in exciting new concepts. The IOC and TOP Partner Coca-Cola are looking to develop the programme internationally, working with other National Olympic Committees in the future.

IOC President meets athletes - sees first competitions, after attending spectacular European Games opening ceremony

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu. A Creative Commons license.

IOC President meets athletes - sees first competitions, after attending spectacular European Games opening ceremony
©IOC/Ian Jones (2) / Getty (2)
13/06/2015
President Bach attended the first competitions on the opening day of the European Games in Baku.  During the day he met athletes from shooting, triathlon, karate and wrestling.

President Bach began the day by visiting the brand new Baku shooting centre, which will go on to host the ISSF World Cup next year and the European Championships the year after. The President went on to see the Women's Triathlon. After the competition, he met the winner and London 2012 gold medallist, Swiss athlete Nicola Spirig.
Later the President also visited Karate and Wrestling.
The packed day of competition followed the opening ceremony, which included a surprise appearance by Lady Gaga.

"This was a spectacular opening ceremony full of symbolism and history. It showed how sport can unite people and build bridges," he said.
"We saw Russian athletes marching alongside Ukrainians. We saw Serbian and Kosovan teams marching at the opening ceremony, and we saw an Armenian team alongside their hosts from Azerbaijan. This is the power of sport to bring people together regardless of background, belief or nationality. This is something that sport can do, and maybe something that only sport can do," he added.