SportAccord Report II
Today was a little less stressful as the Annual General Meetings for IWGA, ARISF and the International Masters Games Association (IMGA) were all held yesterday. This allowed Eva and I to enjoy a coffee outside in the 20º weather at the Sussei Hotel.
An afterthought on the IMGA meeting: there was a thorough presentation of the World Masters Games in 2017 in Auckland, NZL. This sounds to be a fantastic event. Carlos and Lukas are doing their very best to ensure Dancesport’s participation in New Zealand in three years' time. We look forward to following the progress.
Today we had the possibility of sitting in on part of the General Meeting of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations - ASOIF - which gave a good idea of what it means to be at the very heart of the Olympic Movement. It was both interesting and educational.
Through talking with some International Olympic Committee members, Eva and I were pleased to hear on behalf of DanceSport that the mixed gender sports which the IOC tried in the Sochi Winter Olympics were a huge success. This should help give even more appeal to our sport, where mixed gender is as commonplace as it gets.
The SportAccord opening ceremony took place in the main auditorium where they had built up a lovely stage. The speeches were held by Ugur Erdener, President of the Turkish National Olympic Committee, by Thomas Bach, IOC President, and by Marius Viser, President of Sport Accord.
They were followed by a show of Turkish dancers who gave their rendition of the Mediterranean Sun. This was a nice cultural experience.
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