Lausanne, Switzerland, September 9, 2020: As part of its ongoing efforts to promote athletes’ safety and wellbeing, the IOC Executive Board today approved the establishment of the “International Safeguarding Officer in Sport Certificate”. The course leading to certification is set to commence in September 2021.
This is a first of its kind because there is currently no certificate or minimum standard of education or training for safeguarding officers in sport on an international level.
The five-month education course will be developed by an International Advisory Board of experts, under three Programme Directors, and will be fully aligned with other international efforts to protect athletes and align sports policies and programmes with the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
It will be hosted on sportsoracle. The course will include a final examination, which must be passed in order to receive the certification.
Registration for this course – which will be open to anyone, but aimed in particular at International Federations (IFs), National Federations (NFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) – will incur a fee. Successful candidates proposed by the NOCs will be able to apply for Olympic Solidarity scholarships to enrol in this course.
IOC President Thomas Bach said: “The safety and wellbeing of athletes are paramount to the IOC and the Olympic Movement. We need to make every effort to keep athletes safe and to guard their rights. I am pleased that we can today initiate this certificate to enhance awareness and education in this important area of athlete welfare, reinforcing the stance against all forms of harassment and abuse in sport.”
In another effort, 11 additional webinars for NOCs will be available in four different languages from October 2020 onwards. This series intends to address cultural challenges faced by NOCs in developing and implementing athlete safeguarding initiatives, enhance their capacity in athlete safeguarding, facilitate the sharing of best practices and provide access to a group of experts who can offer further support.
Additionally, the IOC is planning a safe sport digital education and awareness campaign starting in the fourth quarter of 2020. This Athlete365 campaign will look to build global awareness around safe sport in the run-up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
For more details: www.olympic.org