Paris 2024: making an impact by getting children moving more at school
President Bach reiterated the IOC’s commitment to put sport at the service of society through the organisation of the Olympic Games. “We know that we have to bring the health benefits of sport to where the people are – this means at the grassroots level, in local communities everywhere. The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will demonstrate this in a spectacular way,” he said.
The IOC President referred to the programme that has introduced 30 minutes of daily exercise into primary schools throughout France and which is on track to reach more than four million children.
“Paris 2024 is promoting sport and physical activity in over 4,000 municipalities across France. All these efforts to bring sport to where the people are will culminate with the Marathon Pour Tous, the Mass-Participation Marathon, when over 40,000 people will run the same marathon route just hours before the Olympic athletes,” Bach highlighted.
“But Paris is only the most visible aspect of our mission to make the world a better place through sport. Through our partnership with WHO, we are going to communities everywhere around the globe, bringing sport to everyone.”
The IOC and WHO: a strong collaboration
The IOC and WHO have enjoyed a longstanding partnership since 1984, leading to numerous joint initiatives to fight physical inactivity through sport. In November 2022, as part of their Cooperation Agreement, the two organisations launched a three-year cooperation programme aiming to strengthen the role of sport in building healthy and active communities at international, regional and national level.
“Since then, our partnership has continued to go from strength to strength,” President Bach told the World Health Assembly. “We continue to make sport available as the low-cost high-impact tool par excellence for public health.”
The IOC President mentioned the Community Sport and Health Cooperation initiative, delivered by the IOC and WHO with international health non-governmental organisation PATH, as an example of how the organisations are pioneering new ways of cooperating at grassroots level, bringing together the expertise of both local health authorities and sports organisations.
“Our aim is to facilitate access to community sports activities for over one million people,” President Bach continued. “As part of this joint initiative, we are training coaches, teachers and community health workers from 500 organisations. We are doing so through innovative partnerships between National Olympic Committees, local health authorities and sports organisations at community level.
“This is why I would like to encourage you, not to say urge you, to replicate this model of cooperation in your countries. Engage with your National Olympic Committee and your local sports organisations to integrate the low-cost high-impact tool of sport into your healthcare and education systems.”
About the World Health Assembly
The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the WHO Executive Board. The 77th edition of the annual World Health Assembly is taking place in Geneva from 27 May to 1 June, and this year’s theme is: All for Health, Health for All.
The full speech by the IOC President can be found here.