Tergat on charm offensive at IOC, FIVB headquarters
National Olympic Committee of Kenya President Paul Tergat with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on May 23, 2023.
What you need to know:
- IOC President Thomas Bach has also expressed his admiration at efforts being made by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) to gain respect among the African and global sports community.
- Tergat updated the IOC supremo on Kenya's Olympics preparations “with a desire to make a strong and the best ever showing in Paris next year by Team Kenya.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) are happy with Kenya’s push towards gender parity in sport and the progress made towards being more competitive at the Olympic Games.
IOC President Thomas Bach has also expressed his admiration at efforts being made by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) to gain respect among the African and global sports community.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya President Paul Tergat with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) General Director Fabio Azevedo at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on May 23, 2023.
NOC-K President Paul Tergat flew back to Nairobi on Thursday morning from Lausanne where he held meetings at both the IOC and FIVB head offices located in the Swiss city.
“Mr Bach noted that NOC-K had embraced and actively implemented the IOC agenda on gender parity which was evident in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics composition of Team Kenya,” Tergat told Nation Sport on Thursday on the sidelines of a Paris 2024 Olympic Games Planning and Strategy retreat organised by NOC-K and the Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Arts and Sports in Nakuru.
“With Paris 2024 Olympics rooting for a 50-50 gender balance achievement, the IOC boss hoped that Kenya would continue and even surpass this target,” Tergat said.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) President Paul Tergat (second right) welcomes Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to a strategy meeting for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Nakuru on May 25, 2023. NOC-K Secretary General Francis Mutuku (left) and Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei (second left) look on.
Tergat updated the IOC supremo on Kenya's Olympics preparations “with a desire to make a strong and the best ever showing in Paris next year by Team Kenya.”
The NOC-K head also applauded the IOC President “for his dedication and leadership of the Olympic Movement,” putting up in a strong case for the IOC to explore, through its Olympic Solidarity programme, ways to bolster support for Kenya's women’s volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, in collaboration with the FIVB.
Ahead of his meeting at the IOC headquarters, Tergat also visited the FIVB headquarters and held talks with the international federation’s Head of Technical and Development Department, Steve Tutton and Fabio Azevedo, the FIVB General Director, on enhancing the good support they currently have extended to Malkia Strikers.
“Our volleyball queens Malkia Strikers continue to give us great pride. We are thankful for the partnership with the FIVB for making Malkia one of their special projects for support,” Tergat tweeted after the Lausanne meeting.
“Happy to explore further how to deepen this partnership that is yielding much benefits with us.”
Meanwhile, the IOC President, on the invitation of Tergat, has expressed his eagerness to visit Kenya soon after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
A German lawyer and 1976 Olympic fencing gold medalist, Bach, 69, was elected as IOC President in 2013 and will remain in office until 2025 when his second, four-year term expires.
Among those also angling for the IOC presidency is Great Britain’s World Athletics President and middle-distance track legend Seb Coe, International Cycling Union President David Lappartient and Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jnr whose father, Juan Antonio Samaranch Snr, was IOC President from 1980 to 2001.
National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) President Paul Tergat (left) welcomes Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba (second left) to a strategy meeting for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Nakuru on May 25, 2023 accompanied by NOC-K Secretary General Francis Mutuku (right) and Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei (second right).
Coe was in Kenya on a semi-official visit in January this year while Lappartient also visited Nairobi last month to preside over the African Cycling Union Congress.
