FISU Present at VI World Forum on Sport, Education & Culture
September 29th, 2008
On September 25th the Opening Ceremony of the VI World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture took place in Busan, Korea. This Forum was co-organised by the IOC, UNESCO and the Busan Metropolitan Municipality. The works started the day after on the main theme ‘Sport and Education for the Now Generation’. The highest IOC authority was Mr. Lambis V. Nikolaou, 1st Vice –President and for UNESCO Mr. Wataru Iwamoto, Director of the research and social sciences policies department. To underline the importance of education for the IOC, Mr. Zhengliang He, Chairman of the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education said that ‘Sport without education is like a body without a soul.’ If during the two days many subjects where at the programme of the panel sessions, we have to notice that two sessions focused on the Youth Olympic Games.
At this meeting FISU was represented by Kolë Gjeloshaj, Director for Education and Development Services - Chief of Staff to the President. Many other members of the FISU Family were in attendance in other capacities as well. We can mention Mrs. Yang-Ja Hong member of the FISU Committee for the Study of University Sport (CESU), being vice-president of the Korean Olympic Committee, was one of the hosts of this meeting. Mr. Omar Al-Hai FISU Executive Committee Member was representing the Olympic Committee of the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Eddie Imo President of the American Samoa University Sport Association was also representing his NOC. More than 500 participants attended this Forum.
A declaration named ‘Busan Action Plan’ was adopted by the delegates. The first sentence is stating ‘The Forum recognised youth as the future of sport and noted the need to use every opportunity and all means available to advance the combination of sport, culture and Olympic education.’ To this opportunities were recognised the following: 1. Youth, 2. Youth Olympic Games, 3. Universality, 4. Post athletic life, 5 OCOG and NOC education and cultures programmes, 6. Partnerships, 7. Olympic Congress.
INFO
For more information on the Forum click on the link below. http://2008iocbusanforum.org/eng/
FISU EC Member Omar Al-Hai
Mr. Imo (President of the American Samoa University Sport Association ) & Mrs. Hong (CESU member)
