IOC President Thomas Bach was in Istanbul, Türkiye, for the 52^nd General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) this weekend. The President addressed the General Assembly, which was presided over by EOC President and IOC Member Spyros Capralos, about the future of Olympic sport and particularly the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024, which he told them “will be Games of a new era – the first Olympic Games inspired by Olympic Agenda from start to finish.”

He told the 50 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represented at the Assembly that the Games in Paris will be “younger, more inclusive, more urban and more sustainable.”

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be the first Olympic Games with full gender parity. With changes having been made to the Olympic programme, exactly the same number of quota places for male athletes and female athletes will be allocated for the first time.

In addition, President Bach reminded the Assembly that Paris 2024 will also be more sustainable, with 95 per cent of the venues existing or temporary, and plans to use 100 per cent renewable energy to power the Games. Combined with a range of measures, this will cut the carbon emissions for the Games by 50 per cent compared to previous editions.

Turning to the unifying mission of the Olympic Games, and the participation of individual, neutral athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports, the IOC President said that support had come for the IOC’s approach from a wide range of groups, from the G20, from the Non-Aligned States and more recently from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the International Athletes’ Forum.

He underlined that the conditions recommended by the IOC must be strictly applied by the International Federations and that there must be no wavering in this.

He added: “there have been some comments coming from Russia about these conditions. So let me reconfirm what we said from the very beginning, that these conditions are non-negotiable, we will not waiver. They have to be strictly applied to give this approach the credibility and support it currently enjoys among the public, the athletes and the international community. This support has to be earned day by day by strict application.”

In this way, he told them: “these Olympic Games will be what millions of people around the world are hoping for: a symbol of dialogue, of peace and of human excellence.”

During his time at the General Assembly, President Bach was accompanied throughout by IOC Member in Türkiye and Turkish NOC President Uğur Erdener. He held a number of meetings: with the Turkish Sports Minister, Osman Aşkin Bak; with the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu; and with many NOC presidents, including the President of the Ukrainian NOC, Vadym Guttsait.