ZOC commended for forum organisation

for an Olympic Solidarity Regional Forum on preparing a delegation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The forum was held on September 28 and 29 at the Elephant Hills Hotel.
The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president Admire Masenda officially opened the forum on September 28.
Twenty-five English speaking African countries were expected to be represented at the Forum.
Each country was asked to send two delegates, one of which was the chef de mission.
Unfortunately, Nigeria, Liberia, Libya and Somalia failed to participate in the crucial discussion owing to various reasons beyond the organisers’ control.
The workshop was conducted by Pamela Vipond, the Deputy Director of Olympic Solidarity, accompanied by Carina Dragomir.
Toshio Tsurunaga and Jessy Numan represented the International Olympic Committee with Robert Mutsauki and Robert Magagula representing the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was represented by a strong team of six members, namely Gabriel Andrande, Arek Deng, Sally Hudson, Sophie Lorant, Mathilde Meurisse and Andrew Lewis. The forum was meant to prepare chefs de mission to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in their preparations for participation.
Key among the issues that were dealt with were IOC updates in respect of the sport qualification systems and sport entries, tripartite invitations and athletes Commission elections at the Games.
The IOC emphasised the importance for chefs de mission to adhere to rules pertaining to commercial rights notably rule 50, clearance of music rights and rule 40, use of Olympic Rings.
Of interest was the issue of betting in sports to which the IOC said would pay particular attention to ensure ethics were upheld.
LOCOG provided detailed insight into several issues that provided in-depth information for the chefs de mission.
Delegates had an opportunity to get insight into details pertaining to the accreditation system and details were provided regarding the extra quota, P-accreditation and transferability accreditations.
The IOC went further to deliberate on Anti-Doping, the Therapeutic Use Exemption, the No Needles Policy as well as Media operations, press attaches, media tours, and press by number entries.
Of note was the new approach for the media regarding visiting the Games Village.
Special visit days (24 and 26 July 2012) were set aside for the media to take a tour of the Games Village.
Some notable dates and deadlines were also announced for the chefs de mission to take note.
Some of the dates include the following: Doping period would be July 16 to August 12 2012.
These would be the dates for in-competition doping testing.
TUEs are to be submitted by July 1 2012 while the World Press briefing date was announced as October 24 2011.
An NOC Press attaché meeting is scheduled for July 24 2012 at the Media and Press Centre in London while January 27 was announced as the deadline for Press by name entry.
The deadline for sports qualifications was set for July 9 2012 while eligibility forms should have been submitted to LOCOG by March 23 2012.
A pre-Delegation Registration Meeting (Pre-DRM) is scheduled for April 28 to May 2 in Johannesburg while Delegation Registration Meetings are scheduled to start from July 10 2012 for the chefs de missions to arrange for the arrival of their teams at the Games.
The ANOCA technical director Mutsauki made a presentation on ANOCA expectations.
In his presentation, Mutsauki emphasised on the need for African NOCs to prepare their teams and athletes thoroughly in order to post good performances at the Games. He challenged the African NOCs to pay particular attention to planning before, during and after the Games.
It was apparent from Mutsauki’s presentation that a good number of chefs de mission did not have written down job descriptions or training to guide them in dispensing their duties. He made a proposal which has since been adopted by Olympic Solidarity for the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee to share their chef de mission job description with the rest of the countries.
This will be posted onto the IOC NOCnet for the benefit of the rest of the African NOCs.
Four National Olympic Committees (Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius and Swaziland) were selected to share their experiences on various aspects of team preparation.
Kenya focused on their experience and lessons learnt on accreditation before fielding questions during a plenary discussion.
South Africa made a presentation on sport entries in which they spoke about their team selection and entry for the Olympic Games.
Mauritius addressed delegates on key aspects to take note of on the arrivals and departure in order to avoid inconveniences for athletes, officials, dignitaries and NOC guests.
Robert Magagula made a presentation on behalf of Swaziland focusing on preparations for the delegation registration meetings.
It was apparent from the discussions and level of engagement at the Forum that chefs de mission benefited immensely.
There were very genuine questions asked and issues clarified to assist countries prepare adequately for this premium activity.
Zimbabwe was represented at the Forum by the chef de mission, Busi Chindove, and Anna Mguni, the chairperson of the Technical and Development Commission. The IOC organises Regional Forums a year before the Olympic Games as a way of ensuring that delegations are adequately prepared for the Games.
This year, two such Forums were organised separately for English-speaking and French-speaking African countries.
While all the English-speaking African countries were in Victoria Falls, the French-speaking countries will be in Kigali for a similar activity.
The following countries were represented at the Victoria Falls forum: Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the hosts Zimbabwe.
ZOC was highly commended for putting up a flawless show in organising the forum.
All the delegates’ travel and accommodation including airport transfers and excursions were organised to the delegates’ satisfaction.
The IOC, Olympic Solidarity, ANOCA and LOCOG including the participants themselves publicly praised ZOC for a job well done.
Special mention, however, goes to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the Department of Immigration, Premier Travel and Tours and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs among others, for all the support and assistance. The teamwork no doubt marketed brand Zimbabwe “A world of Wonders” perfectly more so as the forum coincided with the World Tourism Day commemorations on September 27 2011.
Now that the Forum has come and gone, it is time to serious focus on preparing the athletes adequately for a showdown with the cream of the world in London nine months from now.
l Stanley Mutoya is the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee.