EVENTS

On October 24, the Members of the Italian Olympic Athletes’ Committee organized the national forum “Stronger together” at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) in Rome. Claudia Giordani – Vice President of CONI, Silvia Salis – Deputy Vice President of CONI, representatives various National Sports Federations and Associated Sports Disciplines, Paolo Bouquet – President of UnisportItalia, and Laura Capranica – President of EAS attended the event.

The Secretary General of CONI, Carlo Mornati opened the Forum, which aimed to foster a democratic representation of athletes at the level of all the national sports federations, and to raise the awareness of the activities and projects carried out by the Italian Olympic Athletes’ Committee.

Giovanni Malagò, President of the Olympic Committee and IOC Member, emphasized the benefits of engaging athletes in the decision boards of sports bodies to advance the Italian sports culture and highlighted the successful athletic outcomes in several sports disciplines of the last two years.

Federica Pellegrini, swimmer champion and Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), testified the relevant role and aims of the Athletes’ IOC Committee, and encouraged all the sports federations to listen to the athletes’ voices by establishing their Commission. In fact, athletes are the key players of sports. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a strong community for sharing initiatives and for creating synergies with all the sports actors.

The President of the Italian Olympic Athlete’s Committee Raffaella Masciardi (basketball), and the Vice-President Carlo Molfetta (taekwondo) presented the role, aims, and Members of the ExCom including Antonella Del Core (volleyball and Member of the Executive Board of CONI), Paolo Pizzo (fencing and Member of the Executive Board of CONI), Francesco Marrai (sailing), Elena Pantaleo (kombat sport), Anna Cappellini (ice skating), Francesco Pellgrino (sking), Tatiana Andreoli (archery), and Paolo Lorenzi (tennis) as elected Members, as well as Cristina Lenardon (handball) and Sara Gama (soccer) as co-opted members.

Then, four initiatives of the Italian Olympic Athletes’ Committee were illustrated and discussed: 1) “Financial education and sport” aimed to educate athletes on sound economic management, financial planning, savings, economics, and self-entrepreneurial capability; 2) “The national dual career guidelines” developed in cooperation with Unisport Italia, and the Universiyty Sport Association (CUSI) to be disseminated and to be adopted by all the sports bodies and higher educational institutions; 3) ”MyLLENNIUM AWARD – MySPORT” dedicated to Dual Career athletes under 30 years of age presenting projects on entrepreneurship, creative writing, training, or communication; and 4) “Excellent Student Excellent Athlete” award to reward successful experiences in sports and education, which need to be disseminated to all the athletes’ community.

In considering that Italy is lacking structured measures and arrangements, the Stronger Together forum represents a great opportunity to establish fruitful cooperation and synergies between sports bodies, educational institutions, for-profit companies, and media for the benefit of the sportspersons.

To note, the Vice-President Carlo Molfetta and the Member of the CONI ExCom Paolo Pizzo have benefited of the dual career programme at the University of Rome Foro Italico.