Dear Delegates
It will be my last report and as you know my term as President of European Athletics will be ending with today’s Congress. I will be released as of tomorrow morning from the responsibility to reflect day by day how we can save and increase the values and awareness of our sport, which priorities and what will be the best for our movement.
For the President and the Council such reflections are of highest importance to be successful in handling the multiple and highly complex requirements. We cannot stay in isolation, we have to cooperate with different stakeholder and listen to their requests. Influences from outside our sport are as important as the inside view. First priority is the habits, expectations and the changing behaviour of society.
By respecting these aspects my report reflects more on experiences to show how important the consideration of adaptations is. An association such as ours must be permanently in a procedure of adaptation if the movement wants to be successful and respected.
16 years ago our association was primarily based on volunteer work by the Council members and two Committees. To fulfil the future requirements it was conditional that the volunteer organisation was replaced by a professional operation with all the consequences of a modernised governance structure. The implementation of the new system was successful by respecting the strategic, political and operational level. Today we are in an advanced position and we have a strong centralised operation at the Head Office in Lausanne.
Athletics is known and recognised as a high performance sport and seen as the number 1 sport of the Olympic Games. This part has to stay as a showcase also in the future but we know that athletics is much more. The contribution that is offered to the society in the field of youth, health, well-being and recreation is unique compared to other sports. For that reason the two-pillar strategy was implemented and the first positive reactions are coming through. The now-available quality and safety standards for road running will be another important tool to strengthen the strategy and awareness in this field.
In the time I have been President there has been an important change in the area of television. Not all of these changes have a positive impact looking at the worldwide economic crises and the influence of the large extent of TV channels. Despite this demanding period during my Presidency, the contractual arrangements for television rights income with EBU could be more than doubled, which is an outstanding achievement and shows the value of athletics and the confidence in our sport.
The Council and the Congress have agreed that European Athletics has to create a reserve which should secure close to 2 years operation ... This target is respected and the new four-year Financial Planning is nearly balanced which means the requested reserve is guaranteed for the future and no additional reserves will be created.
Our competition programme has been permanently adapted and innovations have been implemented such as the European Athletics Team Championships and European Athletics Championships every 2nd year
Further steps are needed concerning the European Athletics Championships format, the qualification system and the qualification competitions. Reflection and ideas are available for further consideration to increase the awareness and the promotion of the European Athletics Championships.
A project was developed and published recently to organise several individual European championships together under the responsibility of each sport at the same period of the year and in a coordinated manner. The idea was strongly supported by EBU. A solution has been found for 2018 with the European Athletics Championships in Berlin and the four other sports, swimming, cycling, triathlon and rowing, with their championships in Glasgow. The coordinated TV programming will guarantee that athletics will be shown at prime time. The championships and the rights are controlled by each sport. An additional supporting brand will connect the individual championships as part of the European Sports Championships. It is strongly expected that the awareness and audience figures on TV will be at a much higher level.
Most of those projects, strategies and procedures needed several years, sometimes more than a Council term for the implementation.
We are respecting the influences from outside by considering the future. By all the different activities we kept our promises and therefore we reached an excellent level of confidence and high respect from our partners.
Therefore we are proud to say that actually European Athletics is in a healthy and solid situation to face the future.
I strongly believe that athletics has the great potential to become one of the key sports by implementing fully the 2nd pillar strategy and will have a bright future. The condition is that all of us contribute to the defined goals and strategies. We intend to bring the high performance part, as our showcase, together with “Athletics for All” concerning youth, health and wellbeing as a service towards the public to get more recognition and awareness for our sport.
The engagement and the renewal procedure is a permanent task as well as the obligation to identify with which priority and how the value of athletics can be increased.
These statements underline how important the task of the Member Federations is by electing the future Council. You decide about the future of European Athletics.
Finally I would like to thank you for your support during my time as President of European Athletics. Without your help and your understanding we would not have reached the highly recognised level we have today. I wish you all the best and an enjoyable time with Athletics. Our slogan “Your Sport for Life” will keep us always together.
Thank you very much.