The ANOC Podcast: National Olympic Committees Navigate the Pandemic

(ATR) Acting ANOC President Robin Mitchell joins Around the Rings on the latest ANOC Podcast to discuss challenges and hardships facing 206 NOCs around the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Topics include the financial and moral support being provided by ANOC, countermeasures and the possibility of vaccines for athletes at the Tokyo Olympic Games next summer, and how NOCs and Olympians can be an inspiration to society.

Mitchell says that larger NOCs probably will have to write off payments already made for hotels and airline tickets. He also notes that some NOCs, citing Australia and New Zealand in his home region, are struggling to attract national sponsorships for the Games due to the current health crisis.

"Generally, for the smaller NOCs, apart for support from Olympic Solidarity, their main source of funding is from government and now governments have to re-prioritize funding to preventing Covid coming to their countries," said Mitchell, speaking with ATR’s Brian Pinelli from his home in Fiji.

"Covid and its effect on sport is pretty tough in different magnitudes depending on the size and resources that are available to each National Olympic Committee."

Mitchell also provides an update on the ANOC General Assembly, rescheduled for Seoul in November 2021, and gives his assessment of what it might take for Fiji’s Rio 2016 gold-medal winning Rugby Sevens squad to repeat their incredible performance next summer in Tokyo.

AroundTheRings · ATRadio with ANOC Acting President Robin Mitchell

Homepage photo: ATR

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