Presidents special Message

Happy end-of-year celebrations

Fellow friends of the African Sporting and Olympic Movement,
As 2011 draws to an end, we need to sit back and take a retrospective look at the major events that spotlighted our association in particular, and the African Sporting and Olympic Movement in general. I wish, first and foremost, to extend to each of you, and to the entire family of African sport, my best wishes for yet another successful year. This year, I was pleased to share with you those great moments that highlighted the success of our activities. Some of these events were organised by ANOCA, while some others were organised on the continent, clear proof that Africa, instead of being on the periphery, is actually at the hub of Olympism. On 28 June 2011, our association celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in pomp and ceremony. This afforded us the opportunity to assess the ground covered so far: it turns out that our association should take credit for most of the undertakings geared towards the promotion of sport and Olympism in Africa for the past thirty years. Our priority was thus to live up to the expectations of African youths and work for their emancipation. As the supreme ruling body of the African Olympic Movement, ANOCA did not only strive to meet these expectations, but sought to exceed them in every way. Our efforts paid off, and Africa can today pride itself on sharing a common vision in respect of the resources to be mobilised to foster Olympism in various States. Besides this major event, we are also pleased with the success of the 28th Seminar for Secretaries General of African NOCs which took place in Bamako in November 2011. The meeting enabled us to adopt a common front in view of Africas participation in the forthcoming summer Olympic Games. Moreover, on 04 September 2011, on the sidelines of the All Africa Games held in Maputo, ANOCA held a major meeting with presidents of various continental sports confederations. These sports administrators saw eye to eye and thus adopted common strategies for the onward march of African sport, the most immediate challenge being to draw the curtains on qualifiers for the London Olympics. These successes were the fruit of our collective endeavours. The remarkable impact of our activities on the development of African sport and the positive feedback from NOCs are guarantees that ANOCA will speedily rise to the numerous challenges. Another highlight of 2011 was the celebration of the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo from 03 to 18 September. Beyond the sporting aspect of this event, which unveiled thousands of talents driven by the spirit of fair play, the Games were showcased by hundreds of media men and women who were present in Mozambican. This was not only beneficial for our athletes, but also testified to the fact that fraternity and peace exist on our continent. The pace was of course set by our continents youth. I thank our athletes most heartily for their wonderful display at that quadrennial event. They were worthy ambassadors of their countries whose colours they defended with talent and passion. We admire and are proud of them.

Furthermore, Africa hosted the Executive Commission meeting and the 123rd IOC session in Durban from 04 to 09 July 2011. The resounding success recorded at these events, which were holding for the very first time in Africa, upheld our continents image on the international Olympism scene. Another landmark of the year is the decision taken on 21 October 2011 by the fourth session of the AU Conference of Sports Ministers held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to entrust the organisation and management of the All Africa Games to ANOCA. Before history, our Association has taken full stock of the weighty and challenging responsibility that now rests on its shoulders. It is patent proof of the fact that the African Olympic Movement shares several cardinal principles in common with the African Union, with unity at the hub. This brings to mind the words of Nobel Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, who said that sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire, to unite people like nothing else These are some of the events, among many others, that kept the African sporting and Olympic Movement vibrant in 2011, and which we have deemed necessary to recall at the end of the year. I wish that 2012 will be as rich, if not richer than the year just ending. Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year 2012 to all African NOC leaders, officials of African Sports Confederations, African sports ministers, volunteers and African sportsmen and women who each day do Africa proud through their outstanding performances at major events.

Intendant General Lassana Palenfo, President of ANOCA