Faroese athletes to compete for first time at European Youth Olympics Festival

Tórshavn, Faroe Islands; 19 July 2019:

The Faroese Confederation of Sports and Olympic Committee (FCSOC) has announced its team to compete in the 2019 Summer European Youth Olympics Festival (EYOF), taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 21-27 July.

This is the first time that any athletes from the Faroe Islands have competed under the Faroese flag at an event sanctioned by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and marks a significant milestone in the country’s aspirations for Olympic recognition.

This follows an historic decision by the EOC Executive Committee at its meeting in January which ensured Faroese athletes can participate at EOC events in sports where Faroe Islands already has a recognised sport federation.

A team of six youth athletes set off for Baku from Tórshavn last night to compete in judo and swimming.

Judo:

· Bjarni Kyrri Ólavson

Swimming:

· Elisabeth Erlendsdóttir

· Kristina í Skála

· Rebekka Trygvadóttir

· Ronja Ró í Dímun

· Bartal Erlingsson Eidesgaard

Jon Hestoy, Vice President of the Faroese Confederation of Sports and Olympic Committee, said:

"This is a great leap forward for the Faroe Islands and we are hugely excited to see our athletes compete under the Faroese flag at the 2019 Summer European Youth Olympics Festival. Our athletes have put their heart and soul into their preparations and we are extremely grateful to the EOC and to the organising committee in Baku for accommodating our team.

"We believe this moment represents another milestone in our journey to becoming universally recognised by the international sport movement – including by the International Olympic Committee - which will have a profound impact on our athletes and the ongoing development of sport in the Faroe Islands."

Faroe Islands has been campaigning for Olympic recognition for over 40 years. It is recognised in its own right by eight International Federations: archery, badminton, football, handball, judo, swimming, table tennis and volleyball. Faroe Islands is also a founding member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and has competed in every Paralympic Summer Games since 1984.

Faroe Islands’ debut at the 2019 European Youth Olympics Festival closely follows the country’s appearance at the recent International Island Games in Gibraltar (6-12 July), where it placed third on the medal table with 22 gold, 11 silver and 27 bronze medals.

Three Faroese swimmers, Óli Mortensen, Signhild Joensen, and Alvi Hjelm, are also competing this week at the 18th FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Korea.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

About the Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands, which has a population of 51,000, has been a self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948 and competes in the Olympic Games as Denmark. Located north-west of Scotland’s Shetland Islands and almost 1,000km from Denmark, the Faroe Islands has been campaigning for more than 40 years for Olympic recognition. The Faroese Confederation of Sports was established in 1939 and its Olympic Committee in 1982. Sport on the islands is 100% self-funded, including all anti-doping activities [no sport funding comes from Denmark]. 18,000 Faroese are members of sports clubs which is driven and overseen by the FCSOC.

For more information

Amelia Fisher-Starzynski

VERO Communications

Email: afisher-starzysnki@verocom.co.uk

Phone: +44 (0)207 812 6589 / +44 (0)7557 418 187

Follow the Faroese campaign for Olympic Recognition on Twitter: @FaroeOlympic

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