21 October 2024 – On behalf of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, IOC First Vice-President Nicole Hoevertsz welcomed the presidents, secretaries general and other representatives of International Federations (IFs) today at the IF Forum in Lausanne. She encouraged them to embrace change and be ready to innovate, while being guided by the Olympic values and looking to the future of sport with great confidence.

“This IF Forum is a timely moment for the entire IF community to chart the course of the future of sport,” said Hoevertsz, on behalf of the IOC President Thomas Bach, who is currently visiting a number of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in Africa. The theme of this year’s IF Forum, which is being held at the Olympic Museum until Wednesday, is “Ensuring your IF is match fit and future-ready”.

In a rapidly changing world, Hoevertsz explained that it is now the moment to consider “what innovation and change are needed to be ‘future-ready’ – because the times, they are a-changing.”

The accelerated development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital revolution are key aspects of the current world’s changes and present opportunities for sport and the Olympic Movement.

Hoevertsz explained how the Olympic AI Agenda “provides a holistic approach of how the world of sport can embrace the potential of AI.” She pointed out that the Olympic values are at the heart of this approach, ensuring AI technology to be available for everybody in the Olympic Community, in order to grant access to sport to more people and support athletes in many ways.

“This is why we invite the entire IF community to join us on this journey of harnessing the transformative powers of AI for sport. This is what the Olympic AI Agenda is designed to do: defining a vision and guiding principles of how we in the Olympic Movement can seize the great opportunities that AI presents to all of us.”

Nicole Hoevertsz, IOC First Vice-President

Another significant dimension of being “future-ready” is esports, involving more and more young people. “If we want to continue to inspire the next generation with our Olympic values – then we have to go to where the young people are,” said Hoevertsz.

“Whatever our views are on esports and gaming, the numbers speak for themselves. Globally, there are well over 3 billion people familiar with gaming, a figure that continues to grow by the day. While in 2021, the global gaming live-streaming audience was just around 800 million people, this figure will grow to 1.5 billion spectators next year. These are all young people,” Hoevertsz said.

She continued: “We cannot ignore these staggering numbers. They make it crystal clear: if we want to continue to be relevant in the lives of young people, if we want to continue to inspire the next generation with our Olympic values – then we have to go to where the young people are. Therefore, to be “future-ready” also means: we have to go to esports.” As a result, the IOC recently announced the creation of the Olympic Esports Games, with the first edition taking place in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.

“We have ensured that the Olympic values are respected, in particular, with regard to the game titles on the programme, the promotion of gender equality and engagement with the young audience, which is embracing esports,” added the IOC Vice President, who also explained: “The principles that we have set out at the beginning of our journey in esports remain unchanged. For the IF community, this means: those of you who already are engaged in an e-version of your sport that is considered for inclusion in the Olympic Esports Games will continue to be the first go-to partners for the IOC.”

At the same time, in order to address the specific nature of the Olympic Esports Games, the IOC is creating a new dedicated structure within the organisation, clearly separate from the organisational and financial model for the Olympic Games. Hoevertsz said: “In other words, you can rest assured that our support for your sport in real life – the sport that involves physical activity of a human being – will remain unchanged.”

She also thanked the Summer IFs for their contribution to the success of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, as everyone looks forward to Milano Cortina 2026, the first Olympic Winter Games to fully benefit from the Olympic Agenda reforms from start to finish.

Nicole Hoevertsz’s full speech at the IF Forum can be found here.