Developmeportnt through Sport

“Sport is not just physical activity; it promotes health and helps prevent, or even cure, the diseases of modern civilization. It also is an educational tool which fosters cognitive development; teaches social behavior; and helps to integrate communities”

Thomas Bach, IOC President.

The idea of combining sport and development is not new to the Olympic Movement. The founder of the IOC and reviver of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, was already in his time a strong advocate of international cooperation and of the social and human values of sport. Based on this long-time commitment as a socially responsible organization, the IOC is engaged in sports development at grass-roots level, aiming to both increase access to physical activity worldwide and to improve social and human wellbeing at large.

There is no doubt that the Olympic Games have an increasingly positive legacy in terms of sustainable social and economic development for the host city and the country at large. But beyond this, the Olympic Games, which generate major resources and gather together the best athletes in the world every two years, are supported daily by initiatives of all kinds to develop sport at grass-roots level throughout the world and to promote the values of solidarity, peace and human dignity which sport can channel. This has its roots in the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, which can be seen in the Olympic Charter.

“The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity." (Olympic Charter, 2015)

(Recourse: IOC FACTSHEET UPDATE - DECEMBER 2013)

On the local level, the Egyptian NOC tries to emulate the IOC and use sport as a vehicle to promote social and human development. 

Initiatives will be announced on a regular basis... So STAY TUNED