European Olympic Committee president Pat Hickey is on a Malta visit. Yesterday he found time to criticise the European Commission saying that a recent White Paper on Sport confirmed that the Commission was not really interested in sport.
Addressing reporters at a press conference at The Malta Hilton, he said the White Paper was ridiculous, first of all because sports is only considered as something forming part of social affairs. “I have been to Brussels on several occasions during the past 20 years. Sport has never been mentioned as it should, although we have been lobbying for many years. There is yet no proper and direct funding for sport and it was shocking to have read the recent White Paper on Sport. It is so ridiculous that all top sports personalities have described it as anti-sport.
It seems as if only the professional footballers take part in sport in the European Union. The White Paper shows that Europe’s top body gives more importance to those earning around 200,000 euros a week in salaries rather than those really in need of furthering their sporting talents. There seems to have been no thought spared for such athletes.
“To have people like Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, myself as the European OC’s president, Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, Michel Platini, UEFA president, as well as others including the European Basketball and Volleyball presidents, sitting on one table discussing such a White Paper and its implications, is very seldom. It was a show of unity in favour of sport,” he said.
The Irish EOC president said something they all agreed upon was the fact that the EU is concerned on doping issues in sport. Here, Mr Hickey showed no nonsense: “We have to stand up and kill this disease. The Anti-Doping Commission headed by Mr Pound has done a great job, but it seems there still needs a lot of work to be done to get it well under our control. We have to be rigorous on this issue,” he said.
Mr Hickey also took the opportunity to speak on the Beijing Olympic Games next year. He said: “I am sure these Games will be the best ever, in fact, as never before. Some people who saw what happened during a recent rehearsal one year ahead of the Games on Tiananmen Square, simply told me that it was a great spectacle. Certainly, they will be fantastic and it will be something very positive for that country. In fact, I believe, they will open up China to the world. And I think London were just unlucky to be given the next Summer Olympics in 2012, though even the English organisers are poised to run a great Games in London.
They are great sports loving people and have organised great events very successfully. I have already been there seven times. I have already seen that there will be a great atmosphere. London is a great city and I am sure they will organise great Games as well.”
The EOC president said the International Olympic Committee is a very powerful and very important entity. He added: “Every country tries (those who have the finances, facilities, etc, etc.), to organise the Olympic Games. Already Sochi in Russia has been given the task of staging the 2014 Winter Games and in 2016, with no closing date for entries made known as yet, there are already countries like Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Baku, Chicago and Doha lining up as potential candidates for the Summer Games.”
Mr Hickey, a former black belt in Judo (his sporting career started in that discipline), was also full of praise for the Maltese Olympic Committee who he described as great and true friends. “They work hard at EOC levels. I must also thank Joe Cassar (the MOC secretary general) for the great job he did at the recent European Olympic Youth Festival in Belgrade. These Games have become our flagship as a ‘European Games’ event seems to have become impossible to stage with all the championships of each and every association already cramming the yearly calendar of sport on the continent.
“I must say that Malta is doing very well in representation with its president, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco as well as with Envic Galea in the European Judo Union, and others.
He added: “Sporting wise, Malta remains a small nation and it will be very difficult to win Olympic medals. I am aware of your sporting talent in shooting. But it will be difficult for any European country, and that includes Russia, Italy, England, Germany and France, to win many medals in the China Games. The Chinese are preparing well for these Games as they wish to top the medals’ list ahead of the Americans who will be their main challengers. They have the potential to do it considering they have a population of 1.5 billion,” he said.
The EOC president, who is also an International Olympic Committee member, went on to say that the European Olympic Youth Festival has proved to be a tremendous success, so much, that the IOC has also been convinced to hold the Youth Olympic Games with the first edition to be staged in 2010. “It is the first time where one meets young athletes in the 14-17 year bracket before they get a big head, before they get an agent to lead them in a professional left, and before they get involved in doping,” he stated.
Mr Hickey also proposed that Malta should start being represented in Winter Sports. “In Ireland, we have the same problem. We have no snow conditions but we have a group of athletes who train regularly in Austria. All you need is to try and find a nucleus of athletes, for example, in Canada, where the sport is a favourite of so many and where, I have become aware, there are many Maltese residing in that country,” he said. He added that even just qualifying to take part would be a great success for a small country like Malta.
Asked how the EOC looked at the Games for the European Small States, Mr Hickey replied that these have turned out to be a great success. “The EOC provides a good financial injection. Look at the recent Games in Monaco. They were a huge event, a massive undertaking for the National Olympic Committee of that country, but it was satisfying that it turned out to be such an outstanding success,” he remarked.
The EOC president also spoke about his happiness after peace found its way in Ireland. “It is working out well and we are now hoping to make further progress. In the times of the terrible troubles we had just one committee for the Irish island and we presented one team for the Barcelona Games. We won one gold and one silver medal in boxing. The gold was won by a Dublin Catholic, while the silver medal went to a Protestant from Belfast. During their stay in Barcelona, they lived together in the same room. Since then they have become the best of friends – a clear example of how we can live peacefully together,” he said.
Mr Hickey also spoke on the biggest problem hitting the world at present – obesity among youths. He said: “We have an obligation towards kids. Such a problem shows that these youngsters are not showing interest in sport and it is our duty to get them back on track. The EOC has started a campaign in Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Croatia and Denmark. After six months, it will be extended to the other 49 countries of the European union. But we need more sponsors. At present, the main sponsors are Samsung, but we also hope that a possible McDonald’s sponsorship in the near future will prove to be successful. We hope it will work.”
Earlier, Maltese Olympic Committee president, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, introduced Mr Hickey to the press, describing him as one of the biggest friends of the MOC.
“Judo had been his first attachment in sport, but later he became Irish Olympic Committee president and IOC member,” He said. Last year the Irishman was voted as the European Olympic Committee’s president. He is a former property valuer and remains extremely active among the European Olympic committees.
Farrugia Sacco also spoke about the proposal for Malta to take part in Winter Sports in future. “We have been working on this for quite some time now. We would love to see the Maltese flag also being hoisted at such events, especially Olympic Winter Games. It is not easy, but we had hopes when the ice-skating rink was available here. We were hopeful of eventually making it through an ice-hockey or a curling team, but we have not managed yet. I can assure you that we will be doing our best,” he said.