Olympic Solidarity and International Federation Launch Joint Program to Support High Performance Female Coaches
Building on the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s longstanding commitment to promoting gender equality and inclusion, in particular helping more women achieve leadership positions, Olympic Solidarity and several The International Federation (IF) has launched a new mentoring and training program. program that helps female coaches progress to high-performance coaching roles at national, continental and international competitions, including major events such as the Olympic Games.
Although Tokyo 2020 has made a new breakthrough as being the most gender balanced Olympics to date, with 48% of women participating, there is still a long way to go towards gender equality when it comes to gender equality. to female coaches and officials. Only 10% of the coaches recognized at the Summer and Winter Olympics over the past decade have been women. Initial figures show little progress in Tokyo with 13% female coaches; However, this number is still very low.
International Olympic Committee
To address the situation, the IOC has launched a number of initiatives, working with International Federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the Organizing Committee to open up more avenues for training and administration. more for women.
The The road to high achievement for women in sportsalso known as the WISH Programme, has been developed in collaboration with a team of experts based at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, with the aim of supporting female coaches who have demonstrated their potential and hope to succeed in taking on key roles at the highest level of their sport.
$1 million in funding provided by Olympic Solidarity
The program supports the implementation of the IOC Gender Equality and Inclusion Goals for 2021-2024, and in particular is committed to promoting the representation of women in sports leadership roles.
Olympic Solidarity is investing $1 million in the WISH Program and will run four groups over the current four years, benefiting approximately 100 coaches. The 21-month program will give participants access to sports-specific leadership, coaching and mentoring programs led by their IF and engagement with the National Olympic Committee (NOCs). ).
The first group of 22 coaches from 20 NOCs and 7 sports (toboggan/toboggan, cycling, judo, rugby, skiing, volleyball and wrestling) began training. online on May 23, with a week of UK residency scheduled for August. Those interested in taking part in further intakes are encouraged to apply through the IF and many IFs contacted the application process for subsequent groups. Candidates need support from both the IF and NOC to be accepted into the program.
Successful pilot program
The launch of the WISH Program follows the success of an IOC-supported pilot initiative, the Women’s Sports Leadership Academy (WSLA HPC), which runs from 2019 to 2021 and sees 26 women from 23 NOCs and six sports (cycling, rowing, rugby, tennis, triathlon and wrestling) participate.
Among them is Pamela Fulton, a triathlon coach from Zimbabwe who now mentors not only promising athletes but coaches and other women in the sport.
“For me, WSLA is a real life changer,” she said. “It was an incredible experience that really gave me more confidence and it also helped me think about my goals. It made me really sit down and think, ‘What do I really want?’ And then find a way to get there.”
For Fulton, that goal is to coach an athlete at the Olympic Games. “That would be my dream,” she said. “I was at the Youth Olympic Games and was very lucky to do that, but obviously everyone wants to go to the Olympics. It’s hard because most athletes don’t stay in Zimbabwe after they go to university or college, so I always think, ‘That’s impossible.’ But what WSLA taught me is not to give up.”
For Fulton, one of the key aspects of the show is the inspiration she feels working together with the other participants and seeing what they’ve achieved, with three of her contemporaries. He attended the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a coach, team or technical official. while 15 are currently in the position of national coaches and two are coaching men’s professional teams. Additionally, eight of the participants are providing education and mentoring to support the growth of other female coaches.
“I feel that you always get support from other women,” says Fulton. “We are all in the same position; all we want to do is try and do the best we can for our own federation and for our athletes. To find out what some other women are doing, it makes you think, ‘Okay, I need to get motivated and get out there. If they can do it, I can do it.’ It makes you think a little further about what you can do and what you can achieve.”
Through her participation in the show, Fulton hopes that she can similarly inspire other female coaches. “I really hope that I can inspire some other women to keep going and achieve what they want to do,” she said. “The sky is limited, and I don’t want anyone else to think, ‘I can’t do it because I’m a woman.’ If you want it, go for it.
And thanks to the launch of the WISH Program, many female coaches will now have that opportunity to follow their dreams.
Olympic solidarity: supporting athletes and the development of sport
With Olympic Solidarity, the IOC aims to provide support to all NOCs worldwide, especially those in greatest need.
This support is achieved through multifaceted programs – including the WISH program – that prioritize athlete development, while training sports coaches and managers, and promoting Olympic values.
The Olympic Solidarity development and support budget for the 2021-2024 plan has a total value of 590 million USD, corresponding to the share of the broadcasting rights of the Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022) belonging to the NOCs. Olympic Solidarity redistributes these funds through programs made available to all IOC-recognized NOCs.
