Happy Olympic Day: Message from WOA President

23 | 6 | 2018

To my fellow Olympians around the world, I would like to wish you all a very happy Olympic Day on behalf of World Olympians Association.

With just 120,000 Olympians living within a global population of 7.6 billion, we are part of a special community, giving us the unique opportunity to harness the power of sport to educate and inspire. Today is a day to celebrate everything we have achieved and the values we embody as Olympians.

As the representative body for Olympians worldwide, WOA is run for and by Olympians. Our remit is to work for the benefit of all Olympians at all stages of your lives, empowering you to help make the world a better place.

On this Olympic Day, I am proud to see so many Olympians working to share the Olympic values with people young and old in your communities across the globe. We were thrilled to hear from many of you in the lead up to this special day and have been busy promoting and publicising your activities across our website and social media platforms. We look forward to hearing more about the work you are doing and I encourage you to connect with WOA via our Facebook and Twitter platforms or by email at info@thewoa.org.

As an Olympian, you can amplify your status as an Olympian by displaying the symbolic letters OLY after your name. OLY provides recognition for the hard work, dedication and perseverance it takes to compete on sport’s greatest stage. More than 10,000 Olympians have so far signed-up to use the letters OLY after their names and I would urge all Olympians to do the same. Like PhD and other post-nominal letters, it is a unique, unifying symbol that instantly identifies you and your achievements as an Olympian. You can use it on your social media, CV, business cards or anywhere you use or sign your name. If you haven’t yet registered for OLY, you can HERE.

WOA and your fellow Olympians need your help.  We are asking for your support with improving the long-term health of Olympians by taking part in the first ever global study analysing the long-term health of Olympians. Supported by the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission, the IOC Athletes’ Commission and the IOC Athletes’ Entourage Commission, the study will generate new knowledge on the overall general health of Olympians and hopefully will lead to recommendations and protocols that will help all Olympians deal with their post-career bodies, aches, injuries and all. There are also many great prizes to be won for completing the online Olympians Health survey, so access the study HERE.

Once again, I wish everyone a happy Olympic Day and salute the work that you are doing today and all year round to share our Olympic values.

Joël Bouzou OLY
President of World Olympians Association