IOC President Lights Up Lima

(ATR) If IOC President Thomas Bach suffered from jetlag after a long trip from Japan to Peru, he didn’t show it during remarks to the Panam Sports General Assembly in Lima on Thursday.

Fresh off a flight from Tokyo to Peru that landed late the night before in Lima, Bach nonetheless woke up the presidents and secretaries general of the 41 member NOCs of Panam Sport with an impassioned speech about solidarity and its importance in combating the growing tide of nationalism in the world.

"We cannot ignore in sport what is happening in the rest of society and what is happening in the world," Bach said, adding "without solidarity sport is just not possible."

Bach, using the word zeitgeist, or "the spirit of the time" in German, bluntly described what he feels sport, and society in general, is up against.

"We are standing against this zeitgeist at this moment. We are standing against mistrust, we are standing against selfishness, we are standing against any form of discrimination, we are standing against isolation, we are standing against division, we are standing against fragmentation. We are standing for dialogue, we are standing for peace, we are standing for diversity, and we are standing for a universal set of solidarity for the sake of all our athletes, for the sake of all our national Olympic committees and for the sake of all of society. Because without solidarity we cannot address, we cannot solve any of these problems we are facing in the world."

Bach was also complimentary of the progress made by Panam Sports since Neven Ilic became president in 2017.

"I am very happy that under Neven Ilic’s leadership that Panam Sports is following Agenda 2020 with its 2018 plan. I would love to congratulate the focused approach on athletes and representing the athletes."

Despite on short sleep, Bach stayed through the morning session of the general assembly, not returning after the lunch break.

As for Ilic, he showed that athletes are not the only focus.

Bach joined the Chilean leader of Panam Sports as he halted the official proceedings of the general assembly to recognize two women who have worked for decades to develop sport in their countries and the Olympic Movement of the Americas.

The two women who received honors are Dr. Élida Párraga de Álvarez, General Secretary of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee and Jimena Saldaña, Vice President of the Mexican Olympic Committee. Both have a long history helping to grow sport of their countries and in the Americas.

Élida Párraga, is also currently a member of the Women in Sports Commission of Panam Sports. The panel is working to ensure that every NOC in the organization has an active Women in Sports Commission.

Among the decisions announced during the general assembly was that Canadian Olympic Committee President Tricia Smith was chosen by the executive board to replace the departed Larry Probst of the United States on the board.

While the general assembly did not vote on Probst's replacement, it did pass a series of changes to the wording of the organization's constitution as well as a tweak to the eligibility rules to serve on the executive board.

Previously, any candidate for the executive board had to have served a minimum three years as a president, vice-president or secretary general on the executive board of a NOC. Moving forward, a potential candidate only needs to be a member of a NOC executive board for three years to be eligible.

Written and reported by Gerard Farek in Lima

For general comments or questions,click here.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.