Final Report

2
3
Message by Mario VÁZQUEZ RAÑA
Chairman of the Olympic Solidarity Commission
© IOC/Locatelli
The results of the work of Olympic Solidarity during the 2001–2004 quadrennial show
major advances in the different areas covered by the World Programmes, and in particular
represented a key means of support for the activity of the National Olympic Committees
(NOCs), in many cases ensuring their livelihood and, as a result, their autonomy and
independence.
Olympic Solidarity has continued to develop, all the while creating new initiatives
and consolidating its actions with a view to increasing the benefits which the athletes,
coaches and NOCs receive as a result. This report, which covers the 2001–2004 period,
summarises, with figures that speak for themselves, the advances made during this time,
creating the solid basis on which to build the actions for the quadrennial that we have
recently begun.
For me, one of the most outstanding aspects of the period covered by the report is the
successful application of the process to decentralise funding and key decision-making
to the Continental Associations, which has enabled attention to be focused as quickly
as possible on the problems and needs of each region, as well as strengthening the management
of the Continental Associations, thereby making them a key component of the
Olympic Solidarity system at international level. In addition to this, there is the creation
of nine new World Programmes compared with the 1997–2000 quadrennial; an increase
in the funding used to provide annual subsidies to the NOCs; the expanded scope and
ongoing fine-tuning of the World Programmes; the implementation, with excellent
results, of the Continental Programmes; and, as a result of these efforts, a significant
increase in the number of athletes from the 202 NOCs around the world which benefited
from direct assistance from Olympic Solidarity.