On December 17, the annual Olympic Assembly was held in Moscow bringing together representatives of the All-Russian Sports Federations, regional Olympic councils, Olympic academies and other ROC member organizations, as well as famous coaches and athletes. The event was held online.
Despite the remote format of the event and the associated difficulties with communication, 247 out of 257 ROC members registered to participate in the Olympic Assembly.
The participants listened to the report delivered by the President of the ROC Stanislav Pozdnyakov on the results the Russian Olympic Committee’s activities for the period 2018–2020.
For participation in the upcoming Games in Tokyo, the Head of the ROC stated that the Russian Olympic team would include approximately 380 athletes and 260 specialists, taking into account rotation. The total composition of the delegation will be 620–640 people, if this is not affected by the decision due to be rendered by CAS in regard to the WADA-RUSADA dispute.
In addition, on December 7, 2020, the IOC Executive Board approved the recommendations for residence at the Olympic Village during the Games of the XXXII Olympiad which were sent out to all the national sports federations. The ROC will receive more detailed information on this topic in January 2021, however, at this time the following points can be stated:
– in the interests of ensuring proper sports acclimatization and training before the Games, the arrival of athletes to the Olympic Village is expected to be 5 days before the start of competitions;
– in cases where the travel time to Japan and the time difference is minimal, the number of days spent in the Olympic Village should be shorter;
– where possible, athletes should acclimatize to the time difference at training bases prior to the start of the Games in Japan, and not in the Olympic Village;
– athletes must leave the Olympic Village no later than 48 hours after they have been excluded from a specific competition, or after a competition has ended (whichever comes first);
– officials of a particular sports team must follow the same policies for the arrival and departure of athletes;
– non-sport team officials (e.g. administrative staff, general practitioners, physiotherapists, etc.) can come and go depending on the needs of a specific NOC, while minimizing their time in the Olympic Village after the departure of the last athlete;
– athletes residing in the Satellite Villages who have completed their competitions are not advised to return to the Olympic Village in Tokyo so as to minimize the possibility of cross-contamination.
— As can be seen from these recommendations, the IOC has established a minimum period of stay at the Games not only for specific sports, but also for sports disciplines. We will all need to pay attention to this when planning the final stage of preparation for Tokyo. Meanwhile, Russian athletes continue to prepare for the Olympic Games. At the moment, we have received official confirmation from international sports federations for 207 athletes (99 men and 108 women). They have received 129 Olympic licences in 24 sports, — said Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
Speaking about the active interaction of the ROC with the national sports federations in terms of preparing and promoting Russian officials to the governing and technical bodies of international sports organizations, Stanislav Pozdnyakov congratulated and wished success to the Secretary General of the Russian Boxing Federation Umar Kremlev and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Table Tennis Federation, First Vice-President of the ROC Igor Levitin, recently elected as heads of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) respectively.
— The Russian Federation, along with the United States, Germany, China and Canada, occupies a leading position in terms of the number of representatives in international sports organizations. As of October 1, 2020, Russia was represented by 290 of our fellow citizens. And various IOC commissions currently include 9 Russians, — said the head of the ROC.
Following the results of Stanislav Pozdnyakov’s speech, the delegates of the Olympic Assembly approved the report on the activities of the ROC for the period 2018-2020, acknowledged the satisfactory work of the governing bodies and public associations of the ROC, and also positively assessed the efforts of the ROC and its staff in terms of:
– implementing ROC Programmes to assist Candidates to become Members of the Russian Olympic team and to ensure the participation of the Russian Olympic delegation in the Games at the XXXII Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan) and at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (China) and the development of sports included into the Sumer Olympic Games Programme and the Olympic Winter Games Programme;
– implementing Olympic educational programmes at the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU);
– implementing the Olympic Educational Programme for the Development of Mass Sport;
– implementing the “Main directions for the provision of international sports activities by the Russian Olympic Committee for the period up to 2022,” among others.
The ROC Executive Board, the Executive Board’s Bureau and the ROC staff were invited to:
– start developing a Programme to assist Candidates to become Members of the Russian Olympic team and to ensure the participation of the Russian Olympic delegation at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris;
– start developing a Marketing Strategy for the ROC for the period 2021–2024, as well as proactively search for additional sources of funding for the ROC;
– continue activities to promote clean sport and provide support to the national sports federations and constituent entities of the Russian Federation in terms of training and advanced training of specialists in anti-doping work, and also to support them;
– continue to work to protect the rights of clean athletes, and not to allow the discrimination against athletes who have never committed anti-doping violations, or discrimination on national grounds;
– provide support to the national sports federations for the development of sport in terms of international activities;
– intensify the activities of public commissions, councils and committees created under the ROC;
– continue work aimed at developing the domestic Fair Play movement.
The second issue on the agenda of the Olympic Assembly was discussing the new edition of the ROC’s Charter. According to the head of the Legal Department of the ROC Aleksandra Brilliantova, the need to introduce amendments to the Charter of the organization is due to the fact that on January 1, 2021, the new World Anti-Doping Code and WADA’s revised International Standards come into force.
Due to the fact that the WADA Code provides for a separate article on the role and responsibility of the National Olympic Committees, listing the functions and responsibilities that the NOCs have, the Russian Olympic Committee analyzed these provisions of the Code and identified the need to introduce amendments and annexes to the Charter and other regulatory acts of the ROC in order to ensure compliance with the relevant provisions.
In particular, provisions were made to the Charter regarding the possibility of holding meetings of the ROC Executive Board and the Olympic Assembly in the remote format using videoconferencing and absentee voting.
The Olympic Assembly approved the new version of the Charter of the Russian Olympic Committee, as well as the Procedure for admission and exclusion to the Russian Olympic Committee.
Furthermore, the delegates took note of the report by the Chairman of the ROC Control Review Committee Marat Bariev on the activities of the ROC Control Review Committee for the period 2018–2020.
The governing bodies of the Russian Olympic Committee were asked to take appropriate measures to implement the recommendations of the Control Review Committee outlined in the report.
After the end of the Olympic Assembly, Stanislav Pozdnyakov summed up the main results in his interview to the media.
— The Olympic Assembly was held online for the very first time and in this sense it can be called a historic occasion. The pandemic has brought about new rules to which we have already adapted. I am very grateful to all colleagues who took an active part in today’s event. From an organizational point of view, everything went well, despite the large number of participants — almost 250 people.
Several important decisions were made at the Olympic Assembly. First, the work of the ROC during the period 2018-2020 was found to be satisfactory. We not only fully reported on our activities and achievements over this period, but also announced our goals for the next two years. The delegates’ unanimous support suggests that the ROC is moving in the right direction. This has been confirmed by the results of the Control Review Committee’s audit.
Also today, amendments to the ROC Charter were approved. Like any other National Olympic Committee, the ROC must adapt its Charter to the revised World Anti-Doping Code. Of course, this was done within the frames of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, — concluded Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
