Seasons greetings from the WOA President

21 | 12 | 2020

Dear Olympian friends,

As we approach the end of a challenging year, I would like to take this opportunity to express the admiration I have for you all and share the pride I have in representing you.

2020 has been a year like no-other. We have all been impacted by the pandemic. But through adversity comes strength and I am heartened by the resolve our OLY community has displayed. Olympians around the world have acted in unity to lead and support their communities when they have needed us most.

Throughout these difficult times, seeing how Olympians have personified the Olympic values has illustrated the positive impact we can have on society. The work you and your fellow Olympians have undertaken makes me immensely proud to stand alongside you as an Olympian.

Despite the bleakness of the past 12 months we have also seen positivity and light. We published the first findings from WOA’s landmark Olympians Health Study, we have seen many WOA grant projects coming to life and we offered exclusive Airbnb experiences and university scholarships for the first time.

At our successful online General Assembly in October, we showed a video that highlighted our progress over the last four years. This inspiring montage was made possible by the work you do within your communities and can be viewed here:

Through this pandemic I have seen the importance of looking after ourselves, our families, friends and communities. We will no doubt face more challenges in the months to come so I strongly urge you to continue the important work you are doing and to keep giving back to your communities where you can.

As 2020 draws to a close, we can all look forward to the upcoming Games in Tokyo this summer. We have some exciting plans for Tokyo which we hope to share with you early in 2021 once the global travel and health situation is clearer.

I wish you all a restful holiday and a prosperous and happy new year.

Best Olympian regards

Joël Bouzou OLY
President