Successful Athletes' Council Meeting in Madrid

During two days of meetings, the Council members discussed several athlete-related topics on the agenda, including reports from various meetings and events like the IPC General Assembly, the IPC Governing Board Meetings and the Athlete Council election report from Vancouver. Furthermore, the re-inclusion of ID athletes was discussed as well as the usage of the term “Para Athlete”. An AC Outreach working group was build in order to develop a new name and strategy for the IPC Athlete Club.

Mr. Ludovic Hubler from “Peace & Sport” gave a presentation on the role and function of “Peace & Sport”, which was followed by a discussion on how the AC could contribute to a project in close co-operation with the IPC Development Strategy.

The meeting was hosted by the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Spain. The AC was welcomed by Jaime Lissavetzky, Secretary of State for Sport, Anonio Montalvo, Director of the Spanish Sports Council, Miguel Carballeda, President NPC Spain, and Miguel Sagarra, Secretary General of NPC Spain.

The IPC Athletes' Council includes ten members, of which the following six were present: Chairperson Robert Balk (USA), Vice-Chairperson Katarzyna Rogowiec (Poland), Todd Nicholson (Canada), Teresa Perales (Spain), Marketa Sidkova (Czech Republic) and David Smetanine (France).

The IPC Athletes' Council is the collective voice of Paralympic athletes within the IPC and the greater Paralympic Movement. As the liaison between IPC decision-makers and Paralympic athletes, the IPC Athletes' Council works to provide effective input into decision-making at all levels of the organization. To this end, the IPC Athletes' Council works to ensure effective athlete representation on all IPC committees and commissions as well as to create other opportunities for athlete representation both within and outside the IPC.

The Council will come together for its next meeting in October 2010.

For more information on the IPC Athletes Council, please visit www.paralympic.org/Athletes/Athlete_Council/.