IPC General Assembly - Biennial Report
IPC General Assembly - Biennial Report
Sir Philip Craven MBE, President International Paralympic Committee
Good morning,
It’s a pleasure to be here today making this General Assembly address, my fifth as IPC President.
It’s also great to be back here in Beijing, a place that holds so many memories for us all, and a place I feel where the whole Paralympic Movement came of age.
Before I start I’d just like to make you aware of something that Rita van Driel our Governing Board member noticed on Monday night. Across the road at the Birds Nest stadium, by the huge cauldron that used to be in the stadium, is a wonderful wall where the name of every single medal winner from the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games is inscribed. This is just one of the multiple legacies those great Games left here in China.
For some of us this is our second week here in Beijing.
Last weekend the IPC Governing Board met, and I’d like to start by taking the opportunity to thank every member for their continued hard work and dedication to the Movement since their election in 2009.
We now benefit from a Board that boasts a blend of expertise, experience and enthusiasm. With the recent addition of Atos founder and former CEO Bernard Bourigeaud as a co-opted member, we have a dynamic team capable of taking the IPC and with you all the Paralympic Movement to the next level of our exponential growth.
One thing that will help our continued growth, and was much discussed last weekend, is the IPC’s relationship with the IOC.
The IPC has enjoyed a co-operative relationship with the IOC for a number of years now, in particular since 2000. Our current Co-operation Agreement with them runs up to and includes the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Without the IOC’s support, the IPC would not enjoy the position in which we find ourselves today. We are all grateful to the IOC and its President Jacques Rogge, as well as his predecessor, the late President Juan Antonio Samaranch, for their continued support of the IPC and the Paralympic Games.
Through our talks with the IOC, we have already reached a consensus with them on extending our Co-operation Agreement for the 2018 and 2020 Games. Our goal now is to enter into a deeper and broader partnership with the IOC, that maintains our autonomy, but also recognises the greater and more significant role the Paralympic Games now plays in the world.
Complex, but extremely positive negotiations have been ongoing for a number of months and our aim is to finalise an agreement in the near future.
Another example of the IPC Governing Board’s excellent interaction with the staff in our Bonn office is our new four year Strategic Plan which I went through with you at the start of the IPC Conference yesterday.
All I want to add today is say how very proud I am of this document and it is an excellent visiting card for every member of the Paralympic Family.
Strategic Goal two in the Strategic Plan focuses on athlete development, a key area not just for the IPC but for the entire Paralympic Movement as it is vital for us to increase the number of people participating in Paralympic Sport across the world at all levels.
The Beijing Paralympic Games, with 3,951 athletes, are an example of why development is so important for us all as more than half of the athletes came from just 11 of the 146 competing countries.
One way in which the IPC is hoping to improve development is by moving it under our Foundation, which will be relaunched in the New Year under the name of the Agitos Foundation.
Unlike the IPC, which is restricted as to where it can source funds from major corporations, the Agitos Foundation does not have such constraints. Therefore, we are confident we can raise more funds through the Foundation which can then be invested into development camps and initiatives around the globe.
I’d like to take this opportunity once again to thank both BODA and the China Foundation for Disabled Persons for Thursday evening’s dinner and the fundraising efforts towards the monies that have been raised to support the important work of the Agitos Foundation.
In September, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands hosted the IPC Honorary Board and I’m pleased to say all members warmed towards the idea of using the Agitos Foundation to be the driving force behind development and all had ideas on how they could help us in securing extra resources.
They were particularly impressed by some of the work the IPC has recently undertaken in organizing development camps and workshops in Central America and Africa.
Increasing the number of athletes taking part in para-sport is vital to the continued health of the Paralympic Movement and the IPC wishes to support all its members in this extremely important work.
Like Beijing in 2008, the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games are another example of why we need more athletes taking part in our sports. In Vancouver 502 athletes from 44 countries took part in 64 medal events, a record number, however it works out as less than eight competitors per event. More depth of talent in all events is clearly a priority.
Despite this I still stand by my statement made 18 months ago that the Vancouver Games were the biggest and best Winter Paralympics ever held.
I won’t talk too much about individual performances or medal winners from the Games as tonight’s Paralympic Awards will celebrate those performers, but overall Russia topped the medals table with 38 medals, a positive sign for them ahead of Sochi 2014.
For the first time in Paralympic history, medal winners were celebrated and awarded their medals in front of 4,000 people each night at Medals Plaza, something we are looking to repeat in two years times.
Overall, 230,000 tickets were sold for the Games, a new record, and an increase of nearly 30,000 on Torino in 2006.
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were sold out and the overall sell-out rate across all events was an impressive 85%.
In terms of media, nearly 1,200 attended and the cumulated TV audience for the Games was 1.6 billion.
The next Paralympic Winter Games will be held in Sochi in March 2014 and already we are seeing some significant changes taking place in Russian society as a result. Tomorrow you will hear from Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Organizing Committee, so I won’t go into too much detail about their progress.
What I will say however is that the work they have undertaken already in creating a barrier free law in Russia is a significant step for which they are to be congratulated.
Following Sochi it will be the turn of PyeongChang, Korea who this July won the right to stage the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
One of the most pleasing aspects about the whole bidding process for 2018 was that the three bidding cities saw the Paralympics as integral to the success of their bid, and all paid visits to IPC HQ in Bonn to discuss their proposals and receive our feedback.
No longer are our Games seen as just as a bolt-on to the Olympics. They are now seen as a fundamental part of one huge festival of sport and I am excited about what lies ahead for us in 2014 and 2018.
The Paralympic Games remain the IPC’s biggest source of income and ensured that we continued to make a small surplus during the global financial crisis which has affected many organizations including our members.
It is testament to the financial structures now in place at the IPC that we met our agreed budget during these economically challenging times. Years ago such a financial crisis would have left the IPC bankrupt, however we now boast a long-term financial plan which is bearing fruit and making the Movement as a whole stronger.
With the exception of Deutsche Telecom, the IPC has maintained its sponsors over the last two years, extending contracts both in terms of length and value.
We have also worked hard to extend a number of our own sponsorship agreements to the benefit of a number of National Paralympic Committees.
Our international partner Allianz now has agreements in place with eight NPCs, and is in the process of finalising three more, while BP has deals with two countries, with a further five in the pipeline.
Pleasingly during the global financial crisis the Paralympic Movement has continued to flourish.
In the last two years, six new National Paralympic Committees qualified for IPC membership, together with three new International Federations – all of which we will invite you to ratify shortly. The IPC now has 192 members, including 171 National Paralympic Committees, 13 International Federations, 4 IOSDs and 4 regions.
The Movement is now bursting with sport. This year alone, despite there being no Paralympic Games, at least one major international or regional sporting event has taken place every two weeks.
Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, ParaPan American Games in Guadalajara, All Africa Games in Maputo and the Arafura Games in Darwin (and currently the Arab games in Qatar) were all hugely successful events featuring numerous sports.
As the International Federation for nine sports, the IPC has witnessed the number of athletes and countries competing in all its sports increase over the last two years, a period which has seen all sports stage successful world or regional Championships.
It still remains the clear desire of the IPC, relevant stakeholders and IPC Sports representatives to transition the remaining nine IPC sports to independence.
The IPC’s responsibility is to actively plan to create the opportunity for this transition to occur, a process made easier, and more attractive to potential partners, as a result of the continued growth of each sport.
In the last 12 months alone IPC Shooting has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Olympic IF counter part ISSF to work closer together on projects, as has IPC Alpine Skiing and FIS and IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport and IDSF. IPC Athletics also has an agreement in place with the IAAF which may see both the IAAF and IPC Athletics World Championships staged in a similar way to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Early next year IPC Ice Sledge Hockey will meet with IHHF.
The aim for sports independence is the end of 2016, however it must be stressed that this will only happen if the sport is self sustainable, and its independence will not be detrimental to the sport’s continued growth.
The signs though are promising however if you consider how well some sports such as Para-Archery, Para-Cycling, Para-Equestrian and Para Table Tennis have blossomed following their independence from IPC.
The move towards independence of all these sports has increased their reach into previously unknown territory. It has expanded the choice for athletes, increased the awareness of the Paralympic Movement due to international federations including athletes in their competitions and calendars, led to better development programmes and training of coaches and officials.
The challenge for us now is two fold – we need to assist the remaining sports to achieve their independence, and secondly we must help integrate the technical expertise and know how of National Paralympic Committees, national Paralympic sports organizations and national association members of IF’s.
We are now just 263 days away from the London 2012 Paralympic Games and my excitement levels are building by the hour never mind the day.
Tomorrow you will receive a full update on the Games from Seb Coe, President of the Organizing Committee and Chris Holmes’ LOCOG’s Director of Paralympic Integration so I won’t go into too many details.
But what I will say is the signs are there for London 2012 to have the potential to match and potentially surpass what we achieved here in Beijing.
In September, a record number of NPCs attended the Chef de Missions seminar and International Paralympic Day in Trafalgar Square made front page news when Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson were joined by Wheelchair Tennis players Josh Steels and John Parfitt for a game of Doubles. On the back of this publicity LOCOG sold more than one million tickets for the Games, a record so many weeks away from the Opening Ceremony.
The job now is to sell all the remaining tickets before the Games. It would give us all great pleasure if we could announce for the first time ever that the Paralympic Games are a sell-out weeks in advance.
There are a number of other reasons behind why I have such a positive feeling about London.
Domestic host broadcaster, Channel 4 is doing a tremendous job in raising awareness of athletes and Paralympic sports through innovative programmes and more sponsors than ever are activating their sponsorship of the Games. One of them is supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, who boast 19 million customers each week, who have signed up former England captain David Beckham to support their involvement.
Having been in Brazil recently for the launch of the Rio Paralympic Games emblem I can also tell you my excitement for the 2016 Paralympic Games is growing by the day too.
For those that have not seen the new emblem yet, here is the superb video the Organizing Committee used to launch it to an estimated TV audience of 50 million people.
The emblem launch coincided with our first Project Review with the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and came off the back of Brazil’s superb success at the 2011 Parapan American Games where they topped the medal table.
As you would expect from a Games five years out, a lot of infrastructure work is currently underway in Rio however, we were already shown a number of accessible buses that they have invested in and how they are making the subway accessible for all.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will also be the biggest ever featuring 22 sports following the inclusion of Para-canoe and Para-triathlon in the sports programme.
I believe images of Para-Triathletes emerging from the sea on Copacabana beach and Para-Canoeists competing in a lagoon in the shadow of the Christ the Redeemer statue atop Corcovado will be amongst the most iconic ever taken of the Paralympic Games .
Overall, the Paralympic Movement is in rude health, even though we face some familiar challenging opportunities such as implementation of the IPC Classification and Anti-doping codes, development and global recognition.
We must remember however that we are still a very young Movement. The IPC turned 20 in 2009 and it was only last year that we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Paralympic Games in Rome.
If Beijing marked the moment the Paralympic Movement grew up and the world took notice, then I believe the coming years will see us grow in maturity and captivate billions as our athletes continue to inspire and excite the world.
I spoke earlier of the Governing Board, but must also pay due respects to a great team at the IPC office in Bonn led by CEO Xavier Gonzalez.
I must also say that with the growing number of resources available at the IPC in Bonn, combined with the hard work and dedication of all our members, volunteers, officials and classifiers, we are in a position where we can enjoy further sustained growth over the next 50 years.
We can feel rightly proud of our achievements so far, however we should feel a greater sense of excitement about what we still have to achieve together.
Thank you.
