“IT WAS A BUSY YEAR FOR US, WITH PLENTY TO LOOK FORWARD TO”
Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers,
Fellow friends of the Olympic family,
Together, we worked wonders in 2023. We demonstrated our solidarity rooted in traditional African values. Africa has spoken in Us, and through Us, through Sport and the furtherance of Olympism. The hopes of our young people were not disappointed. Our 54 NOCs did an extraordinary job. You can be extremely proud of yourselves.
We of course had our hurdles, but we surmounted them together. It is our strength, in unity, that enables us, today, to end the 2023 sporting and Olympic year in Africa on a note of satisfaction.
Our achievements are reflected in the various actions we carried out over the past twelve months.
Our 2020-2024 action plan is the compass for every action we take. And we followed it to the letter. This helped improve sports governance in Africa. It is thanks to all of you that our athletes are in better conditions to practise sport in various disciplines.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, they showed that they were ready to make their dreams come true. Throughout 2023, we continued to build their capacities and provide them with the necessary resources, with the extraordinary support of IOC’s Olympic Solidarity.
We kept strong mentally, morally and spiritually. Olympic Africa is a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers,
Fellow friends of the Olympic family,
The 59th Session of the ANOCA Executive Committee convened in Nouakchott on 2 and 3 March 2023. That meeting set the tone for our activities, with peace building and unity through sport and the Olympic ideal as our guiding principles.
The African Athletes Forum on 11 and 12 March 2023 in Algiers was an opportunity for ANOCA to promote a policy focused on training and career monitoring for African athletes.
The 2nd African Beach Games in Hammamet, from 23 to 30 June 2023, celebrated under the banner “Africa in Solidarity”, opened a new page in the history of African sport in the world of Olympics. They brought together over 1,300 athletes, thus a record number of participants that went beyond all expectations.
The 21st ANOCA General Assembly met on the sidelines of the ABGs. Delegates endorsed major decisions, such as that to award the organisation of 3rd African Beach Games to Equatorial Guinea.
They also, together, reviewed the preparatory programme for African athletes in the build-up to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
During the 2nd Gender Equality Forum on 2 and 3 October 2023 in SAL, Cape Verde, five African sport icons were honoured for their leadership, their sense of governance and the services rendered to the African Olympic and Sports Movement.
The 40th Seminar for Secretaries General of our 54 NOCs in Mombassa, Kenya, followed in the heels of the Regional Finance Forum on 1 and 2 November 2023, organised by Olympic Solidarity in collaboration with ANOCA.
The ANOCA Zone 3 Games in Lome, Togo, from 3 to 9 December, were a major first devoted solely to female athletes, and sealed ANOCA’s vision of women’s involvement in sport on the African continent.
Throughout the year, these high-profile events were complemented by other equally important actions , such as the NOCs headquarters construction project, with the laying of the foundation stone for new headquarters, like that of Cape Verde in Praia on 28 September 2023 and N’Djamena on 16 December, widening the network of Olympafrica Centres, organisation of sports competitions by the Confederations, signing of partnership agreements with the Chinese Olympic Committee, for example, or cooperation and exchange agreements with the French Olympic and Sports Committee or the Chinese Olympic Committee. All these open possibilities for African sportsmen and women to prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in serenity.
We would therefore like to thank IOC’s Olympic Solidarity for its strategic support to our athletes through Olympic scholarships, which will help them to effectively prepare for a most befitting African participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers,
Fellow friends of the Olympic family,
2023 is a pre-Olympic year, meaning it represented our last-ditch effort prior to our triumphant entry into the Olympic rings of Paris 2024.
It was a busy year for Us, with plenty to look forward to.
We all are eagerly waiting for the New Year, but it should not be lost on us that the world at large is waiting for us in Paris. There is no room for errors, and it is only TOGETHER that we will be even STRONGER!
FRATERNALLY,
Mustapha Berraf.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!
