(ATR) The Czech Olympic Committee welcomed the ANOC General Assembly to Prague in style on Wednesday evening with a 30-minute reception that mixed technology and verve.
Perched on a balcony above the throng of ANOC delegates alongside Association of National Olympic Committees President Sheikh Ahmad and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, Czech Olympic Committee President Jiri Kejval delivered a short but hospitable welcome.
"We have almost 1,300 years of history in our city of Prague and we have never welcomed such a big number of nations at one time," Kejval said, referring to the record number of 1,300 delegates.
"I wish you in your schedule to visit the downtown and our lovely city of Prague," he said.
Association of National Olympic Committees President Sheikh Ahmad was impressed with the large crowd in the lobby of the Hotel Prague Hilton that was indicative of the record attendance.
"This number of participants, we are breaking the records of Doha," Sheikh Ahmad said. "We have more than 1,300 participants present, NOCs, IFs, and IOC host cities that we are welcoming them."
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach spoke last, reminding the packed crowd that those in the Czech Republic have always showed a strong passion for sport.
"At the IOC, among the founding members was a Czech, Pierre de Coubertin said that the Czech’s were among the first ones to keep the flame of Olympism alive," the IOC President said.
The three presidents were welcomed to the reception by Olympic tennis doubles silver medalist Andrea Hlaváčková and European figure skating championship medalist Tomáš Verner.
The two star athletes opened with an innovative, colorful and entertaining multi-media video mapping presentation on the interior walls of the Hilton showcasing Czech sport and architecture accompanied by live music.
The reception provided a festive atmosphere where food and spirits flowed ahead of the two-day XXII ANOC General Assembly that began today.
Click here to view photos from the reception and delegate arrival in Prague.
Written by Kevin Nutley in Prague, Czech Republic.
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
