Panathlon International

From 9th to 12th June 2022, the President’s Committee and the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assembly of PI took place at the Maison du Sport and the University of Lausanne.

Intense days that involved the participants not only in the assembly work, but also in the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and liveliness of the city and to visit the Olympic Museum, where the Gala Dinner was also held.

On the evening of Thursday, the participants were guests of the Lausanne Club for a tasting of local wines in the magnificent setting of Grandvaux (UNESCO site). The following day, the President’s Committee discussed the next institutional events taking advantage of the presence of International Board member Eugenio Guglielmino, delegate for relations with the Commission for Culture, Science and Education: 

first and foremost, the presentation of the Flambeau d'Or Award to IOC President Thomas Bach on 16 September together with the PI International Congress. We cannot yet anticipate the topic as it will have to be approved by the Board, but we believe it will be impactful and very timely. The dates for the meetings of the District Presidents' Committee, International Board and Expansion Commission have also been decided. Beausoleil (F) 28-29 September.

On the evening of Friday 10 June, participants were welcomed to a 'Welcome Dinner' at Café Romand, one of the oldest in Lausanne, where the famous 'fondue', a typical dish of the region, was served.

Saturday 11 June saw the opening of the Assemblies, first Ordinary and in the afternoon Extraordinary, preceded by Prof. Riccardo Partinico's interesting presentation on the studies of the Riace Bronzes. All the reports were presented and approved by the Assembly after the interventions of the EFPM (European Fair Play Movement) President. First the IB's Moral report, followed by the intervention of IB Member Giorgio Chinellato who reported on the collaboration with OneOcean, then the presentation of the PI Development Plan (2022-2026) by IB Member Luis Moreno and finally the presentation of the work of the Expansion Commission by IB Member Patrick Van Campenhout. This was followed by all the other statutory reports, the General Secretary's organisational report, the Treasurer's economic-financial report for the two-year period 2020/2021, the Auditor’s Committee report, the membership fees, and the budget for the years 2023/2024. Everything was approved by a large majority. Several speeches were made by representatives of District Italy, about the PI's choices especially in relation to the costs of the Representations, the impact of the projects and requests for clarification on some budget items.  Clubs will receive the Minutes with all the votes.

Before the break for lunch, the intervention of the Rector of the University of Antwerp Prof. Francis Van Loon on the activities of the Panathlon Club University (PCU) and the passage of baton between Lausanne and Agrigento that will host the 51st Assembly of the PI.

With a little delay the works was followed by the Extraordinary Assembly for the Statute changes. After the initial discussions on the amendment of Art. 1) (PI representations) which remained unchanged, Art. 17) (minimum number of clubs that make up the District) whose amendment was withdrawn, Art. 5) (young members) Art. 10.5) (emergency resolutions) which were not accepted, the other amendments presented by the IB and the clubs were essentially approved. The most important changes will concern the composition of the IB, (there will be an additional International Board Member who will replace - in terms of voting - the past-president); the possibility of re-election for a further term of office for all organs (IB-District Presidents-Governors) and the possibility of convening all meetings electronically. 

After the Assembly closed, a coach took the participants to the IOC Auditorium, where the 2020-2021 Communication Award Ceremony took place. 

The Secretary General Simona Callo presented, on behalf of the Commission, all the clubs that participated in the Competition and proclaimed the winners: the Panathlon Club of Maldonado y Punta del Este for the TV/Radio section, the Panathlon Club of Rovigo for the printed paper section and the Panathlon Club of Brussel EU for the web/social section.

The evening ended in the Pierre De Coubertin room at the Olympic Museum where, in a nice atmosphere of friendship and relaxation, an impressive dinner was held, accompanied by the notes of two young musicians from the Lausanne Conservatory.

The 'Lausanne Days' ended on Sunday with a free visit to the Olympic Museum, which collects the history of the Olympic Movement from its origins: an experience not to be missed for those who love sport.

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The Panathlon Club Innsbruck organises in June (21) an event open to the public entitled "Women in (Top)Sport - indispensable".

The 50th Ordinary General Assembly will take place in Lausanne on Saturday 11 June at 9.00 a.m. while the Extraordinary General Assembly will take place at 2.00 p.m. 

Those who cannot be present can stream at https://lite.owncast.live/PanathlonInternational/50-General-Extraordinary-Meeting (translations will be in Italian/English/French)

https://lite.owncast.live/PanathlonInternational/50-General-Extraordinary-Meeting 

Fábio Figueiras, panathlete from Lisbon and Secretary of PI Expansion Commission, represented Panathlon International in an Erasmus project on sports integrity with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) as coordinator. Other project partners are Sport Evolution Alliance (SEA), FIBA EUROPE, Malta Football Association (MFA), Lithuania Football Federation (LFF) and EUNIK.

news

"On 1 June last, Panathlon International was represented at the Brussels-Walloon Parliament in Brussels at the inauguration of the "European Fair play Movement" (EFPM) which from now on will have its headquarters in Brussels, the capital of Europe. I had the honor to represent our President, Pierre Zappelli.

The welcome speech was given by the Vice President of the Walloon-Brussels Parliament, Mr François Bellot. The presence of the Member of the European Parliament, Mr. Tarabella and the President of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee, Mr. Jean-Michel Saive was much appreciated.

"European Fair play Movement" exists since 1994 and recently Philippe Houssiaux , also a Panathlete, was elected as president of this European entity. 

Sport reflects the way our society works, through its values, its strengths but also its limitations.

The late Pierre de Coubertin, who always preferred an apolitical approach, gave sport the aura of universality.

Today, we must conclude that the line between sport and politics is becoming very thin and is regularly crossed. EFPM and Panathlon International have a lot in common in their promotion of values such as fair-play, respect, inclusion, etc...

The cooperation between Panathlon International and EFPM, as partners, will be more intense for the common goal. We wish EFPM every success in spreading the Fair-Play philosophy. 

Patrick Van Campenhout

And here we are at the first 12 June, after the celebrations of the 70th anniversary Panathlon’s foundation. The echo of that final ceremony, in the garden of Villa Queirolo in Rapallo, still reverberates throughout the panathletic world for the ideal contents it was able to convey and for the call to make every year a celebration worthy of our history.

From the 'Panathlon day' emerges the invitation to organize an event of any magnitude to celebrate the anniversary, beyond any official ceremony.

After all, that “disnar sport” of 12 June 1951, promoted by Mario Viali and a group of sports enthusiasts from Venice, did not have resounding tones but the flavour of an intimate invitation to share values that do not need a loudspeaker to be announced, but only a convinced adhesion.

Today, in a world torn apart by the consequences of an unprecedented pandemic and now tragically involved in a war that belongs to everyone, it might seem anachronistic to speak of friendship and loyalty.

Panathlon must have the strength to be consistent with its message, launched 71 years ago, shortly after the end of World War II, comforted by 70 years of peace in Europe, thanks to the community drive, and now faced with a new test.

Sport stimulates competitiveness, while respecting ethics. Let us not lose sight of this scenario, thinking of young people who need examples and training models.

Panathlon International, present in 4 continents, 27 countries and 263 clubs, remembering its origins must find the strength to overcome even unforeseen obstacles, in order not to interrupt its training path and its history.

Panathlon International is one of the partners of SAMF – Sport Against Match-Fixing (SAMF), a Erasmus+ funded project, which is being coordinated by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and which is further composed of following partners - Sport Evolution Alliance (SEA), FIBA EUROPE, Malta Football Association (MFA), Lithuania Football Federation (LFF) and EUNIK.

SAMF is aiming to raise awareness amongst grassroot athletes of different sports to the dangers resulting from match-fixing and the negative impact that it can cause on their careers. 

SAMF was awarded with a total of €400.000,00 by the European Union and is scheduled to run for two years. The Kick-off meeting was held last week, in Lisbon, on the 19th and 20th of May 2022. 

Panathlon International has been, through its clubs, especially active in the promotion of positive sporting values and ethics, in particular with awareness raising sessions on the combat of all sorts of sports manipulation, i.e. through online and physical held seminars and workshops, as well as previous participations in other projects/Erasmus+ funded projects related to the combat of match-fixing.

On Monday 23 the first meeting of “Planet Olympia: the values of sport told by the athletes”, the periodic summit organized by Panathlon Junior of Rome to promote ethics and sports culture among young people, took place at the CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee) Lazio’s headquarter.  

The event, moderated by the president of the Club Lorenzo D'Ilario, was attended by Francesca Milani (judo Olympian at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo), Enrica Rinaldi (wrestling bronze medalist at the 2022 European Championships in Budapest) and Mattia Miceli (judo gold medalist at the 2020 U23 European Championships in Porec). 

The institutional greetings were brought by the president of CONI Lazio Riccardo Viola, the youngest councillor of the Capitoline Assembly and member of the Sports Commission of Rome, Giorgio Trabucco, and the authorities of the military sports groups involved (Golden Flames, Carabinieri Sports Centre and Blue Flames). 

The initiative was also an opportunity to celebrate 120-year anniversary of the Italian Judo Wrestling Karate and Martial Arts Federation (Fijlkam), whose disciplines spread important values such as respect, passion, sacrifice, rigor, fair play and desire to never give up, in the presence of the lawyer Cristina Varano, Federal Prosecutor of Fijlkam, as well as Walter Borghino, president of Panathlon Club Roma, Cesare Sagrestani, governor of Panathlon Lazio, and Giampiero Cantarini, past president of Panathlon Club Roma.

Club Roma.      

In the early afternoon the President's Committee was welcomed to the Town Hall of Brescia by the city councillor delegate for sports and panathlete Fabrizio Benzoni, who explained how much the administration cares about sports culture and about the synergy established with the Panathlon Club of Brescia, the second club founded after Venice. He then took the guests on a tour of the Town Hall (Palazzo della Loggia), the Hall of Magistrates and told the reason why the lioness has become the symbol of the city. 

Afterwards, the work of the President's Committee began at the Vittoria Hotel. They reviewed, among other things, the implementation of the Conference of Rondine on Fair Play, the final organizational details of the Lausanne General Assembly, and upcoming institutional appointments. The talks also touched on the decision, not yet formalized, of GAISF's dissolution and the cooperation with other Recognized Associations. 

Afterwards, the Committee attended the convivial meeting of the Club of Brescia held at Villa Carpina where, in an atmosphere of friendship and sympathy, next to the greetings of the authorities and getting to know each other, the participants were able to witness the exciting story of Stefano Miglietti and Giulia Scovoli and their feat in crossing 400km in five days in a portion of the Moroccan desert. An even more touching adventure as she was pulled by athlete Stefano Miglietti in a special wheelchair. It was an incredible experience that enriched everyone present and showed how dreams, if pursued with determination, can turn into reality.

The President's Committee thanked all members of the Club for the kind welcome, its president Rodolfo Garofalo with special thanks to Franco Vollono who strongly wanted the Committee's presence as early as 2019 , later suspended due to the pandemic.

The next meeting of the President's Committee will be held in Brescia next Monday, 23 May at the Hotel Vittoria. The Club will welcome participants to its convivial meeting and organise a meeting with the city's Mayor Emilio Del Bono. 

Among the items on the agenda 

- General Secretariat activity update

- Credentials Committee 

- Lausanne Assembly 11 June 2022  

- Commission for Culture, Science and Education CSEC