The Youth Olympic Games are to become a reality. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently approved the project that will see the first Youth Summer Olympic Games in 2010 and the Youth Winter Olympic Games in 2012. The decision was taken during the 119th session of the IOC in Guatemala City.
“This is an historic moment for the Olympic Movement. We owe this to the youth of the world”, declared IOC president Jacques Rogge after the decision by his 111 fellow members.
According to Dr Rogge, the Youth Olympic Games, which will take place every second year, are the flagship of the IOC’s strategy outlined for young people, which includes other initiatives such as an educational campaign highlighting the Olympic values and a dedicated website for youngsters.
The aims of the Youth Olympic Games are:
• to bring together talented athletes in the 14 to 18 age group from around the world to participate in high-level competitions;
• to run, alongside the sports element of the event, education programmes on Olympic values, the benefits of sport for a healthy lifestyle, the social values that sport can deliver and the dangers of drug-taking and of either training to excess or inactivity;
• to use the latest communications channels to promote the Olympic values and the spirit and essence embodied in the Youth Olympic Games.
The Youth Olympic Games will bring together approximately 3,200 athletes and 800 officials for the Summer Games and 1,000 athletes and 580 officials for the Winter Games.
The sports programme will encompass all the sporting disciplines on the programme of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the 2012 Summer Games, with a limited number of disciplines and events.
Proposals from sports federations to include youth-driven disciplines that are not currently part of the Olympic Games may be accepted.
The main milestones for the first Youth Summer Olympic Games in 2010 are the following:
• July 2007: the opening to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the bidding process for the first Youth Summer Olympic Games in 2010
• Between November and December 2007: under the guidance of the IOC, an evaluation committee – composed of international federations, NOCs and athlete representatives – may visit the candidate cities, pre-selected by an expert panel on the basis of a bid file, and forward a proposal to the executive board, which will make a recommendation to the IOC members.
• End of February 2008: a decision, by postal vote, will be taken by IOC members on the host city for the 2010 Youth Summer Olympic Games.
Elected Hall of Fame Members 2005 – part 2
Fr Hilary MQR
Fr Hilary was born at Tarxien in 1934. He joined the Augustinian Order in 1950, where he was given the name of Hilary a name he has held up to the present day.
He was ordained priest in 1958 after a period of study at the Gregorian University of Rome.
There, at a tender age, he started his journalistic career, contributing regularly to Lehen is-Sewwa. Here in Malta in 1960, he was appointed editor of the magazine Santa Rita, as well as director of the Augustinian Oratory at Tarxien.
During this period he also began his career as a football coach. For many years he coached both the junior and senior teams of Tarxien Rainbows. He was even the coach of Hibernians Football Club, in what could be termed as one of the most successful periods for Hibs, during which they won many local footballing honours.
The most prestigious result obtained by Hibernians under Fr Hilary was the draw they managed against Manchester United in the European Cup of 1968, the year the English Club won the European Cup, known today as the UEFA Championship League Cup.
In 1971, he founded the Centru Sport Edukattiv, which 10 years later developed into a technical centre at Ta’ Qali, together with the current 44 local nurseries.
For 10 years, until 1996, Fr Hilary was the technical director of the MFA football team at Ta’ Qali. In 1980, he started working with drug addicts at San Blas and formed support groups for parents that are still functioning.
He attended eight consecutive World Cup finals, from Mexico 1970 to France 1998, as a journalist and commentator and was also present at many European Champion-ships, as well as six Olympic Games.
For 20 years, Fr Hilary also worked as a sports journalist for Rediffusion, Xandir Malta and PBS. He was a co-founder of Ghaqda Kittieba Sports, of which he was president for 17 years.
He was chairman of the Malta Sports Council from 1999 to 2000, during which time he was instrumental in the donation of the first government land to sports associations and federations.
Today, at the age of 71, he is still president of the Youth Football Association which he founded in 1982 and of which he has always been president. The year 2000 saw a new era in his life with the foundation of Oasi tal-Paci in the heart of Paceville – the Millennium Chapel.
The year 2004 heralded the inauguration of Wishing others Well, the chapel’s social helping hand.
On 13 December 2002, the then President of Malta Guido De Marco, conferred on Fr Hilary the Qadi tar-Repubblika’ award, on behalf of the people of Malta.
John C. Ripard MQR
Undoubtedly one of our foremost yachtsmen, John Ripard’s sporting career also included underwater fishing, with him being chosen to represent Malta in the World Underwater Championships in Portugal in 1959.
However his forte has always been in the sailing world. He competed for Malta in the Snipe Class in the Mediterranean Games in Barcelona in 1955 and again during the 1960 Olympiad when, together with his brother Paul, he participated in the Star Class.
Eventually John moved up to larger offshore keel boats and took part in numerous offshore races in Tunisia, Italy and Sicily, all organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club of which he is President.
Winner of the first Middle Sea Race on Josian in 1968 and again on Tikka in 1970, John also won his class
in the Giraglia and Campionato d’Inverno in Genova.
In the early 1980s he was elected as an international judge, his highlight being his appointment to the international jury during the 1996 Atlanta Olympiad, with the sailing events taking place in Savannah. In 1983, after the USA lost the America’s Cup to Australia, John was appointed chairman of the race committee when the yacht club Costa Smeralda was responsible for organising the Louis Vouitton Cup, the preamble to the America’s Cup.
This was followed by his appointment as an alternate judge in Freemantle in 1987. He was again appointed to the international juries in the America’s Cups of 1988, 1992 and 1995.
John Ripard’s unforgettable experiences of judging the world’s most important championships has taken him practically all over the world. In the Republic Day National honours of 1992 John Ripard was awarded the Midalja Ghall-Qadi Tar-Repubblika.
Joseph Demicoli (Kanesi)
Guzi Demicoli was one of the great all rounders of Maltese sport. He was a formidable swimmer, a top-class water polo player and a very useful footballer.
Representing Malta in water polo and playing league football for Valletta FC were two of the many feats of this great sportsman. At one time, he was the holder of three Maltese swimming titles and he turned out for the Army’s athletics team in the shot put. His towering frame earned him a place as a goalkeeper in the regiment’s water polo team.
Success came to Guzi with unremitting regularity. He was in the RMA team that lifted the Command Aquatic Shield in 1933 and again in 1938. In 1934, he beat the Tunisian visitors by swimming 100 yards in a new national record time of 56.4 seconds. In 1936 he was selected to play for the Maltese water polo team in the Berlin Olympics.
Once again, the decision was made to send him to represent Malta in the European swimming championships, but at this time he was serving on HMS Hood with RMA.
During the trip he played against the strong HMS Hood football team in an unusual position of centre-forward, and scored all the four goals by which the Maltese regiment defeated the British sailors.
He was a very good football player and his size made him a formidable defender.
Guze Demicoli will always be remembered as a towering full back and a versatile sports man. He was a man who excelled in any sport he chose.
Ruggieru Friggieri (iz-Zibga)
Born on 11 April 1886 in Floriana, Ruggieru Friggieri made his debut with Floriana at the age of 16 during the 1902-03 season. He showed his great skill during his first years and captained the Floriana team to win three successive champion-ships and two Cup victories.
He was admired and respected by team-players and fans and became known as iz-Zibga for his speed on the pitch.
As an enthusiastic full back, he was extremely popular with the Floriana fans, and was renowned for his hard, tough tackling, being an expert on penalties and for his powerful “cannon-ball” shots.
During the 1913-16 period, Ruggieru was the first Maltese player to play professional football beyond our shores.
He played with Napoli in the Italian League, where he was described as the “Piccolo Diavolo Maltese” (“little Maltese devil”).
During World War I, he joined the KOMRM, leading the team to many famous victories in the United Services League. Such was his fame that he was chosen for the Pick Army, an honour which was bestowed on no other Maltese footballer of his era.
In 1916, the Floriana team disbanded and Ruggieru joined St George’s, helping the Saints to win the League and Cousis Shield double. He turned professional with Sliema Wanderers in 1922.
He stayed with the Wanderers for three seasons, winning two Champion-ships, one Cup and one Cassar Cup medal. He later returned to Floriana for what at the time was a record transfer fee, but this never materialised, as iz-Zibga died suddenly at the age of 39.
Paul Giorgio
A leading sports administrator, with a remarkable outlook and vision towards sport, Paul Giorgio was a founder member of the ASA in 1925 and was its secretary from 1927 to 1936.
In 1937 he became president of the ASA. He was a founder member of the Malta Olympic Committee, with which he played an instrumental role as its secretary from 1928 until 1946.
In 1946, Paul became the president of the Malta Olympic Committee, a position he held for an unequalled 18 years until 1963.
By the time he retired from the Malta Olympic Committee, Paul had dedicated 35 years of his life to the Malta Olympic Committee and the development of sport in Malta.
He was Chef de Mission for Malta’s first ever Olympic Games participation in 1928 in Amsterdam and again in the famous “Hitler” Berlin Olympics in 1936.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Paul Giorgio was a symbol of Maltese sport and a fine
gentleman.