UIPM President’s Activities: September 2022

04.09. – 10.09.2022: Lignano Sabbiadoro, ITA

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann visited the UIPM 2022 Youth World Championships (U19/U17), where he had numerous meetings with Italian Modern Pentathlon Federation (FIPM) President Fabrizio Bittner and Secretary General Filippo de Liguori.

They discussed the development of all UIPM Sports and the FIPM officials briefed the UIPM President on future bids for the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup and Pentathlon World Cup Final in Rome (ITA). The Modern Pentathlon movement has welcomed the return of Italy as a host of high-level competitions based on a long tradition of competition organisation.

The FIPM President and Secretary General underlined their strong support of Obstacle Discipline as a new discipline for integration into Modern Pentathlon in place of Riding, underlined by their hosting New Pentathlon Discipline Test Event III on September 9/10.

UIPM President Dr Schormann, Vice President Joel Bouzou OLY and FIPM President Bittner shared general ideas in this difficult time for the global sport movement with Silvia Salis, Vice President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) representing President Dr Giovanni Malago. They discussed how peace can be fostered through sport with strong support for future generations, and how sport is one of the most important tools for education.

At a press conference arranged to promote the Youth World Championships, President Dr Schormann spoke about youth, education, health and environment. He also praised the sport centre established by IOC Member Mario Pescante and former IOC President Dr Jacques Rogge as a centre for the European Youth Games in 2005, and which has been used ever since for all kind of training, competitions and seminars.

President Dr Schormann also spoke about the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II, which had occurred the same day, and a minute of silence was respected.

 

Finance Meeting with UIPM Treasurer

During the trip to Italy, President Dr Schormann discussed with UIPM Treasurer John Helmick the financial situation of UIPM and National Federations (NFs) based on issues created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The whole sports world has to study carefully the preparations of competitions with new action plans to secure financial resources. UIPM is focusing strongly on the next coming years to be able to continue in all age groups and, vitally, to support development actions.

 

Meeting with Saudi Arabia NF

UIPM President Dr Schormann met with Hussain Al-Abdulwahab, Saudi Modern Pentathlon Federation (SMPF), and expressed his warm welcome of the participation of Saudi Arabia for the first time in the UIPM Youth World Championships.

 

In response Vice President Al-Abdulwahab conveyed to President Dr Schormann the keen interest of the SMPF in cooperating with UIPM in developing this competition, in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region, both technically and administratively. SMPF is looking forward to host UIPM competitions in future.

 

At the end of the meeting, an invitation extended to Dr Schormann to visit Saudi Arabia was warmly welcomed by the UIPM President.

 

13.09. – 20.09.2022: Almaty, KAZ

The UIPM President attended the 2022 Asian Modern Pentathlon Championships and was pleased to find nine different nations taking part. One of them was Mongolia, which, after many years of development, can now send athletes to competitions.

Nevertheless, the development field in Asian countries is still very expandable and the differences among the nations is large. Therefore, it was very important for President Dr Schormann to talk to the individual nations to gain insights.

During the championships, the UIPM President had many possibilities to speak to NFs about the development of Modern Pentathlon in Asia, amongst others also with Kseniya Gulyamova, Secretary General of the Modern Pentathlon Federation of Uzbekistan, who is also member of the UIPM Women’s Commission. They shared thoughts linked to a stronger inclusion of women in leading positions.

On September 16 President Dr Schormann met with Valerii Novikov and Viktor Maltsev, respectively President and Secretary General of the Modern Pentathlon & Biathlon Federation Kyrgyzstan (also Vice President and Technical Director of the Asian Modern Pentathlon Confederation). They had an intensive discussion about Modern Pentathlon in Central Asia and the Obstacle Discipline testing process.

President Dr Schormann briefed them and the other eight delegations about future steps for the coming generations with the clear priority of reducing costs and complexity with the worldwide accessibility of Modern Pentathlon always in mind, together with fairness for all athletes to be able to take part in UIPM competitions.

Dr Schormann also had a conversation with UIPM Athletes Committee Member for Asia, Shen-Hung Liu (TPE). For UIPM President it was useful to receive insights from Asian countries and to learn more about how athletes view the New Pentathlon Discipline process.

The new Asian champion, women’s individual gold medallist Mina Jeong (KOR), said she supported the transformation of Modern Pentathlon in order to retain the sport’s place on the Olympic programme.

 

14.09.2022: IOC Constitutional Call

Along with other International Federation (IF) leaders, the UIPM President attended a call with the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Dr Thomas Bach, who talked a lot about the conflict in Ukraine and the IOC’s efforts to find a solution for all affected athletes.

President Dr Bach also updated the IFs on the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights and the work of the IOC Games Optimisation Group, which examines the constant evolution of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in reflecting the state of society at a given point in time.

 

27.09.2022: UIPM Executive Board

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann briefed the UIPM Executive Board about the call he had with other IFs and IOC President Dr Bach.

During their online meeting, the EB also discussed the upcoming UIPM 2022 Congress, which will be held online in order to maximise attendance and facilitate democratic participation.

 

 

28.09.2022: Hanau, GER

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann and Executive Assistant Lena Nussbaumer attended the 25th anniversary of Prof Dr Hans-Michael Ockenfels acting as leader of his renowned skin and allergy clinic.

Dr Ockenfels, who chairs the UIPM Doping Review Panel, gave a speech before the gala dinner about preventative medicine for outdoor athletes, using examples drawn from Modern Pentathlon.

 

29.09. - 30.09.2022: Vatican City

The UIPM President, Dr Klaus Schormann, joined fellow leaders of international sport at the Sport For All Summit in the Vatican City on September 29/30.

UIPM President Dr Schormann attended along with IOC President Dr Bach, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons and numerous leaders of IFs and National Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

The Summit programme featured high-level reports, speeches and discussions on inclusion and accessibility in sport. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, addressed the attendees before the signing of a Declaration on Sport.

President Dr Schormann met Prof Konstantino Georgiadis (Dean of the International Olympic Academy) and Wolfgang Baumann (President of the International Association for Sport for All) and had very constructive meetings with both about inclusion and accessibility. President Dr Schormann stressed how the New Pentathlon Discipline will create more inclusion and accessibility within UIPM Sports, supporting all countries that could not take part in UIPM competitions due to the difficulty of establishing an equestrian programme.

The Summit provided great opportunities to speak about inclusion and equality for all athletes. Luca Pancalli, President of the Italian Paralympic Committee and a former pentathlete who founded Para-Pentathlon, gave a speech.

President Dr Schormann said: “The Sport For All Summit in the Vatican City was based on the initiative of many stakeholders of world sport and linked to peace, education and better understanding of the possibilities of what we can do to make sport accessible to everyone, regardless of physical and mental disabilities and social challenges.

“It was a global gathering of stakeholders across sport, church, society and education. IOC President Dr Bach gave a clear message to all, and there were very interesting debates about what it means to respect all parts of society in ensuring that we make a better world through sport. It was very important to come together in solidarity at this difficult time for the world linked to business, war and other challenges.”

IOC Committees and Commissions

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann has been reappointed to the Culture & Olympic Heritage Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

President Dr Schormann passed on his congratulations to four other members of the UIPM Sports commuity who enjoyed the recognition of reappointment to IOC Commissions and Committees by IOC President Dr Thomas Bach.

• Aya Medany OLY - Athletes Commission
• Juan Antonio Samaranch - Televison & Marketing Commission; Olympic Broadcasting Commission; Olympic Channel Commission
• Joel Bouzou OLY - Olympism 365 Committee
• HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco - Chair of Sustainability & Legacy Commission