International Hockey Federation (FIH)

FIH and its Athletes’ Committee to support implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations 

President Leandro Negre to run for election for an ASOIF Council position

Executive Board supports Leandro Negre to run for another term as FIH President

 

Over the weekend, the Executive Board (EB) held its first meeting of 2015 at the FIH headquarters in Lausanne.

The EB decided to put forward FIH President Leandro Negro for election to the ASOIF Council during the next ASOIF General Assembly on 22 April.

The EB also supports Negre to run for another term as FIH President with elections to be held in November 2016. Other important items on the agenda included the implementation of the Hockey Revolution and Olympic Agenda 2020.

Having received an update on the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020, the EB unanimously welcomed this new strategic roadmap which lays out the future of the Olympic Movement and was adopted by the full IOC membership in December last year.

In the months preceding the IOC Session, FIH has been involved in related discussions and consultations. FIH President Leandro Negre was part of one of the 14 Olympic Agenda 2020 Working Groups. And hockey role model Marsha Cox from South Africa participated in the round table with IOC President Thomas Bach in November 2014 when he revealed the 40 proposals that make up Olympic Agenda 2020.

It was confirmed, during the session, that the hockey family is ready to support the implementation of the recommendations which relate to many topics the FIH and its members are closely involved with. The FIH has in fact already started to work with the IOC and other federations on how the role of the IFs can be enhanced in the planning and delivery of the Olympic competitions, including the study of transferring technical responsibilities from the Olympic Games Organising Committees to the IFs (recommendation 13).

Leandro Negre said after the meeting: “Hockey is thrilled to be part of this process. These are exciting times and as a matter of principle, Olympic Agenda 2020 will feature as a fixed item during our EB meetings. It is important for us to analyse the implications and to discuss the contributions that we can make.  We will also strongly involve our Athletes’ Committee in this regard.”

Olympic Agenda 2020 stipulates the protection of clean athletes as the IOC’s ultimate goal – a subject that features also on the top of FIH’s priorities. Hockey was one of the first Olympic sports to establish a whistleblowing system. Earlier this year, the FIH signed up to the IOC’s Integrity Betting Intelligence System (IBIS).

As an intelligence-sharing digital platform, IBIS enables FIH to access an extensive network of monitoring and data-sharing across sports, event owners and the major sports-betting entities.

On her meeting with President Bach, South African captain and three time Olympian Marsha said: “I love the fact that he wants to put athletes at the heart and keep them close to the way the Olympics moves forward – just like FIH is doing with the Athletes’ Committee”.

Marsha was elected to the FIH Athletes’ Committee by her peers during the 2014 Hockey World Cup.

Olympic Agenda 2020 also foresees to move from a sport-based to an event-based Olympic programme and encourages gender equality across all sports. Meanwhile and with hockey being a truly gender neutral sport, the FIH can tick off the recommendation that refers to: “the IOC  to work with the International Federations to achieve 50 per cent female participation in the Olympic Games and to stimulate women’s participation and involvement in sport by creating more participation opportunities at the Olympic Games.”

- Advertisement -