On the Scene: African NOCs Meet in Abuja

ANOCA Meets at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix) (ATR) IOC president Jacques Rogge helps lay the foundation for the new ANOCA headquarters building in Abuja, Nigeria, while the four bid cities continue laying the groundwork for the 2016 vote during the 13th Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa General Assembly.

More than 250 people -- including two delegates from each of the 53 ANOCA countries -- are attending the two-day gathering starting Monday at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja Congress Hall.

This is the first general assembly since the ANOCA headquarters moved from Cameroon to the Nigerian capital in 2006. ANOCA will soon begin work on a new headquarters building, with Rogge attending the groundbreaking ceremony to lay the first stone.

Rogge also attended the opening of the 2003 All African Games in Abuja.

"The General Assembly is very important to us because Abuja now is the Olympic center for Africa," Nigerian Olympic Committee president Habu Gumel tells Around the Rings.

Either Nigerian president Umaru Yar' Adua or Vice President Goodluck Jonathan will open the assembly.

The bid cities Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo -- will make 15-minute presentations on Tuesday. The seven sports vying for admission to the 2016 Olympic program will then make presentations of 10-15 minutes. London 2012 chair Sebastian Coe will speak to the ANOCA assembly Tuesday, as will IOC President Jacques Rogge. (Getty Images)

London 2012 Olympics chief Sebastian Coe and representatives of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games also will address the assembly.

Gumel says that although some of the delegates or IOC members have seen the cities make presentations in Denver at Sportaccord or in Lausanne at the candidate cities briefing, "this is the most important to us because it is on African soil."

Africa has 16 IOC members, although Mustapha Larfaoui of Algeria is not expected to run for re-election as FINA president and will thus drop off the IOC before the vote.

Three IOC members have confirmed they will not attend the assembly: Lamine Diack of Senegal, who is president of the IAAF; Mohamed Mzali of Tunisia, the second-longest serving IOC member dating back to 1965, and Issa Hayatou of Cameroon.

Elections for ANOCA leadership will be held Tuesday. The most hotly contested race is for secretary general, which has six candidates.

ANOCA president Lassana Palenfo, IOC member from the Ivory Coast, is running for another four-year term as head of the continental association.

Palenfo will host the delegates at a cocktail reception at the current ANOCA headquarters. Delegates will attend a dinner on Tuesday night hosted by the Nigerian government.

Bid Cities Stress African Ties

In their last presentation to a continental association, the four candidate cities will emphasize their ties to Africa.

"The origin of our country, the origin of the football craze, the sport craze in Brazil, all of them come from Africa," Rio bid chief Carlos Nuzman tells ATR. "We have this culture for sport, for life, for food, for song, and all of this is integrated between Africa and Brazil."

Nuzman is visiting his third continent in a week after attending the Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Italy, and the Asian Youth Games and General Assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia in Singapore

Rio's presentation team will include Pele, who is still considered one of the greatest sports icons in Africa. Pele also was part of the bid team at the PASO General Assembly in Acapulco, Mexico, last year.

Pele will donate soccer balls and meet with Nigerian children at the Brazilian Embassy in Abuja on Monday.

Tokyo bid chief Ichiro Kono said he was thrilled to have the opportunity to explain the Japanese, highly professional plan that meets and reflects their concerns as a result of talking with NOCs around the world.

"Japan remains a key partner of African nations, and sport provides us with a universal bond to bring our nations closer together. Tokyo 2016 indeed will unite our worlds and offer African heroes superb conditions for training and competition." The Chicago 2016 team in Abuja. All four 2016 bids have teams at the ANOCA meeting. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)

Patrick Ryan, Chicago's bid chief, tells ATR after a two-hour rehearsal Sunday, that his team "will show them the very strong connections between the African countries and Chicago."

"So much sport originated right here on this continent," he adds. "This is ancient culture that is very integrated into Chicago today."

Although Chicago doesn't have a celebrity like Pele on its roster, singer-songwriter R. Kelly, a Chicago native, caused a stir when he arrived at the Hiton on Sunday night. He is performing in concert in Abuja.

Madrid 2016, which will be led by Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón and bid CEO Mercedes Coghen, will also emphasize the historic and cultural links between Spain and Africa.

Secretary General a Coveted Position

The competition among the 2016 bid cities is relatively low-key compared to the race for ANOCA Secretary General, in which candidates are handing out flyers or manifestos, putting up posters, wearing campaign T-shirts and handing out pins.

Robert Mutsauki, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, and Ignace Beraho, president of the Rwanda NOC, are considered the front-runners, with Mutsauki favored among English-speaking NOCs and Beraho among French-speaking countries. Khaled Zein El Din, secretary general of the Egyptian NOC, could have strong support from North Africa.

Olabanji Oladapo, secretary general of the Nigerian NOC; Raymond Ibata, president of the Congo Brazzaville NOC and Santi Sène Hagne, secretary general of the Senegal NOC are the other candidates.

Angolan Gustavo Conceicao resigned last November and the position has been vacant. Robert Mutsauki, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, one of two candidates for a tightly contested race for ANOCA secretary general. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)

Mutsauki is circulating what he calls his manifesto, which includes a 10-point plan for ANOCA. He is also wearing a T-shirt bearing his likeness.

"When you look at ANOCA as an organization and at other continental associations, we are lagging way way behind," he tells ATR. I must bring it to the same level as the other associations in terms of organization, efficiency and effectiveness.

"You do that by building the organization itself. The organization must have a long-term strategy, a road map, a five-year plan. After that, you must have the right structure that you align to that strategy."

Mutsauki says that he would expand the secretariat staff. In Zimbabwe, he has nine other full-time employees working with him.

"ANOCA is only one full-time staff member, what can you expect it to deliver?" he says. "We are not performing to the expectations of our own stakeholders. We need our National Olympic Committees to have confidence in their own continental associations. Right now they do not."

Mutsauki says the money to grow is already there, from Olympic Solidarity, and the budget in this quadrennium is $26 million.

"The reason why I'm standing is I want to make a difference in ANOCA," Mutsauki says.

So does Beraho.

"I want to change ANOCA and focus on professionalism," Beraho tells ATR.

He says he also wants to create teams and unite the stakeholders.

"I would like to bring more harmony among people," Beraho says. "There is too much quarrelling and conflict without results."

He is handing out pins with his slogan, "Just Share It."

Beraho also wants to increase the number of athletes in Africa, both on the grassroots and elite levels.

"I want to protect talented athletes," he says. "A certain number of athletes go in exile, running for money. They need something that African can offer."

Beraho, who was once a refugee and witnessed the genocide in Rwanda, says his government wouldn't allow him to run in the Olympics.

"Now I fight for Olympians," he says.

Daimler Drives Donations

Dieter Kuhnle, coordinator of Olympic Affairs for Daimler, is in Abuja for discussions with African NOCs as part of automobile manufacturer's partnership with Olympic Solidarity.

Daimler, an IOC partner since 1991, is donating 10 Mercedes Benz minivans to NOCs around the world annually. The number is now more than 100. Softball federation president Don Porter checks in at the ANOCA registration desk at the Hilton. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)

Kuhnle said he is also attending the assembly to support Olympafrica, which is not high-level sports, but social programs.

Assembly By the Numbers

About 250 delegates had registered by late Sunday afternoon, with more expected. JAPPO, a Dakar, Senegal-based event coordinator, had 35 volunteers on the scene at the Hilton and about five staff members from its home office.

"It's going well," Diamil Faye, event coordinator tells ATR. "It's like an aircraft, we're taking off, getting ready for tomorrow, getting the room ready."

He said the ride had been a little bumpy. "When you welcome more than 200 people, it's never easy to make everything done on time and in the right way," he says.

Some people experienced a delay getting credentials, which Faye attributed to using two different registration systems.

He said about 15 international media have been credentialed. Around the Rings is the only U.S.-based organization with a media credential.

Writing and photos by Karen Rosen in Abuja, Nigeria

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