No Drastic Changes for ANOC Commissions

(ATR) The Association of National Olympic Committees is focused on enacting its existing policies, a source tellsAround the Rings.

"There's still some work to do,"Richard Peterkin, chair of ANOC's finance and audit commission, says.

"But I believe that policies and strategies are in place and it's now more a case of ensuring that we achieve the objectives that we set up.

"You will find a set of change in the commissions as we move toward that, but it's not going to be as drastic and dramatic as it has been in the past."

Peterkin added that in 2012, whenSheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah stepped in for Mario Vasquez Rana as president of ANOC, the organization saw a lot of change.

"There were major changes to the constitution and major changes to the financial structure."

"We were getting a lot more money from the IOC than before," Peterkin adds.

"We bought and built our own headquarters in Lausanne, and we had a significant change to our constitution."

In a statement released on Friday, ANOC announced Peterkin's position as well as the chairs of eight other ANOC commissions and working groups.

The list includes Michael Chambers, Sebastian Coe, Timothy Fok, Kevan Gosper, Barbara Kendall, Julio Cesar Maglione, Robin Mitchell, and Larry Probst.

"ANOC is trying to give other people opportunities to serve on commissions," Peterkin tells ATR.

"It's not just comprised of ANOC executives.

"We've really spread it around and we have people from international federations, NOCs."

Peterkin says Olympic Agenda 2020 may also influence the organization going forward.

"ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad was very much involved in Agenda 2020," Peterkin says.

"To the extent that he could, he shared that with ANOC's executives and took that into consideration when forming the commissions."

Peterkin adds that the policies adopted by ANOC over the last two years align with the reforms set forth by the IOC in Agenda 2020.

"The main objective is really looking out for the interests of the NOCs," Peterkin explains.

"We saw where there were clear benefits for the NOCs in some of the changes the IOC was going to introduce."

ANOC launched its nine commissions and working groups in December 2013.

"Under the leadership of the IOC and Olympic Agenda 2020 we have seen the importance of ensuring that collaborative discussions lead to decisions and definite action," Ahmad added.

"After a year of conception, 2015 will be the year of implementation for ANOC.

"The initiatives proposed by the commissions and working groups will directly benefit the NOCs and their athletes and improve the support we offer them."

Written byNicole Bennett

Homepage photo: ANOC

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