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IOC AND UN WOMEN RENEW PARTNERSHIP ATHLETES BREAK NEW GROUND AT INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES’ FORUM After five years of collaboration on women and sport, the IOC and UN Women have renewed their commitment with a second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU lays out the vision for the next five years of their partnership, which will empower women and girls through sport and increase gender equality. “Working together with UN Women, the IOC wants to empower women in sport and through sport. With this MoU, we will build on our efforts already underway to promote access to sport for girls and work towards gender equality,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises sport as an important enabler of sustainable development, and in particular its contribution to the empowerment of women and young people, individuals and communities. “Sport is an invaluable tool to equip women and girls with leadership skills, reduce marginalisation and dismantle stereotypes,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. In November, more than 100 athlete representatives from around the world gathered at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne for the IOC’s 8th International Athletes’ Forum. The three-day biannual event brought together athlete representatives and provided them with an opportunity to feed back on the IOC Athletes’ Commission’s new “All In” strategy, and give their thoughts on how the Olympic Movement can better support them across the globe. “It speaks volumes that [these athletes] are all here working behind the scenes. [They’re] effecting change, and we must continue to be a part of the conversation,” declared IOC Athletes’ Commission chair Angela Ruggiero. The development of a ground- breaking Charter of Athlete Rights and Responsibilities was one of the items at the top of the agenda, as the Charter’s Steering Committee held a productive first meeting during the forum. The forum also provided an opportunity for participants to preview Athlete365 – an exciting new platform incorporating all IOC athlete-focused programmes and communication under one brand. Competition manipulation targeted in IOC workshops A series of workshops on competition manipulation have been hosted in West Africa by INTERPOL and the IOC. The first event, a Regional Integrity in Sport workshop on 25 October, brought together more than 50 representatives from law enforcement, government, betting entities and sports organisations to help address the challenges posed by the crime of competition manipulation. Attendees included the President of the Senegalese NOC, IOC Member Mamadou D. Ndiaye. IOC and GAISF sign ground-breaking MoU On 8 November, the IOC and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) signed an MoU intended to further strengthen the IOC’s partnership with IFs. The MoU, which was signed by IOC President Thomas Bach and GAISF President Patrick Baumann, is a direct result of recommendation 13 of Olympic Agenda 2020, which called on the IOC to “Maximise synergies with Olympic Movement stakeholders”. The new agreement provides a framework for strengthened cooperation between the IOC and GAISF. NEWS IN BRIEF Below Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka with President Bach Left More than 100 athlete representatives met in Lausanne OLYMPIC REVIEW 15