2 Days to Go: Olympians Upskill for #OlympicDay

21 | 6 | 2018

Olympians from around the world are gathering in Rome in the lead up to Olympic Day to be trained as IOC Athlete Career Programme Educators in order to assist fellow athletes and Olympians as they transition to life after sport.

The programme provides a unique opportunity for Olympians to share their existing knowledge and personal experience to provide valuable insights into how to prepare and manage the transition to a post-competitive sports career.

The Olympians, who hail from 11 different countries, have gathered in Rome for the four-day IOC Athlete Career Programme Educator Course. The course is designed to provide them with the skills needed to support athletes in the areas of education, life skills and employment and to enable them to deliver ACP Outreach workshops as part of the IOC Athletes’ Commission’s strategy to expand the network of certified ACP educators worldwide.

In addition to topics including behavioural discovery, game plan, networking and interviewing that will be covered during the course, participants will also be taught effective workshop facilitation methods, group dynamics and tools to engage with athletes, as well as modules on entrepreneurship and dual careers. 

The Olympians in Rome this week are IOC Athletes’ Commission Vice-Chair Danka Bartekova OLY (Shooting, Slovakia), five-time Olympian and gold medallist Barbara Kendall (Sailing, New Zealand), Jovina Choo OLY (Sailing, Singapore), triple Olympian and IOC Athletes’ Commission member Nadin Dawani OLY (Taekwondo, Jordan), four-time Olympian and bronze medallist Jasna Rather OLY (Table Tennis, Yugoslavia / USA), three-time Olympic gold medallist Niccolò Campriani OLY (Shooting, Italy), triple Olympian Anjali Bhagwat OLY (Shooting, India),  dual Olympian and the first woman to represent Qatar at the Olympic Games Nada Mohammed Arakji (Swimming, Qatar), four-time Olympian, gold medallist and member of the IOC Athlete’s Commission Ryu Seung-Min OLY (Table Tennis, South Korea), and dual Olympian and gold medallist Attila Mizser (Modern Pentathlon, Hungary).

Also joining the group was two-time Olympian Maria Ntanou OLY (Cross-Country Skiing, Greece):

“Undertaking this course on Olympic Day makes it all the more special for me,” said Maria, “knowing that all around the world people are coming together to promote Olympism and share the Olympic values. I am proud to be able to use the skills I have developed over my career to better assist my fellow Olympians in their life transition.”

Since 2005, the IOC ACP has been supporting athletes as they prepare for and go through their career transition. In the last eight years, more than 8,000 participants from 91 countries across the five continents have taken part in an outreach workshop

Olympians can find out more about the Athlete Career Programme and gain helpful tips and advice on career transition to help them on the path to achieving lifelong excellence HERE.

Olympic Day on 23 June marks the anniversary of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It is a day that unites the Olympic and sporting family worldwide in a display of solidarity to promote the Olympic values and encourage people to get active.

WOA would like to share your inspirational Olympic Day stories, events and pictures on our digital and social platforms so please let us know about any planned Olympic Day activities by contacting sarah.burston@thewoa.org or tagging us on social media using @worldolympians (Twitter) and @worldolympiansassociation (Facebook) and using the hashtag #OlympicDay.

Image credit: IOC