The 2020 European Athletics Young Leaders Forum – co-organised with the Paris 2020 Local Organising Committee and supported by the European Union's Erasmus+ Programme – concluded with two further online sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evening this week.
With participants topping one hundred, and augmented by a number of Paris 2020 volunteers, the emphasis switched from the high-level presentations by guest speakers and experts in their field to the participants sharing their ideas and getting input from decision-makers from within the European Athletics family.
For the third session of the Forum on Tuesday this week, two separate groups tackled the topics:
- How to stay involved in athletics in the long-term?
- Which actions are needed to organise a green event, as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible?
- What is the future evolution of athletics, post-COVID-19?
- Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) and its future evolution.
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The panel on hand to discuss and analyse the participants’ presentations included:
- Christian Milz, European Athletics CEO
- Cherry Alexander, European Athletics Vice President and Executive Board Member
- Gladys Bezier, Head of Learning and Development Paris 2024 Olympic Games LOC
- Jean Gracia, President of Paris 2020
- Marcel Wakim, European Athletics Head of Television, Digital and New Business Development
- Sandrine Glacier, European Athletics Competition and Team Services Manager
The last of the four sessions on Thursday saw ​the European Athletics Youth Team taking the floor virtually to present different initiatives they are running at the national and continental level that are designed to inspire the Young Leaders Community.
The European Athletics Youth Team presenters included Chiara Montesano (Italian Youth Committee), StaÅ¡a Trajkovič (Slovenian Athletics Academy), Patrick Malmquist ( YALA - Swedish youth movement) while Slovenia’s Å pela Hus gave an overview on the Europe-wide activities of the Youth Team,.
European Athletics Interim President Dobromir Karamarinov gave the closing address of this year’s Forum.
The eighth edition of the Forum is planned to take place in conjunction with the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
For more information on the Young Leaders Forum, please contact Yannick Morard in the European Athletics Development Department: [email protected]