NOC*NSF World IOC Conference for Sport, Culture and Education

Toespraak | 26-11-2012

Thank you mister chair and thank you to the previous speakers. And most of all a word of appreciation to our hosts of today, the Netherlands Olympic Committee, President Andre Bolhuis and the city of Amsterdam, Mayor Van der Laan.

Dear mister President of the IOC, dr. Jacques Rogge, members of the IOC, representatives of UNESCO and the European Union, ladies and gentlemen. We are proud to host Olympic events like this congress. On behalf of the Dutch government I want to say that it is an honor to have you all here and I hope you enjoy your stay in our beautiful capital. Once, as you all know, host of the Olympic Games, back in 1928. Some of you have visited the Olympic Stadium yesterday, where Mayor Van der Laan must have told you about these great Games. And as your probably heard, it were those Games where the Olympic Flame was first used in modern time. Since then it has been a symbol of the power of sports. I hope that after today, after this speech, and after your stay in this city, you will remember this little fact. And that every time you see the Olympic fire burning, you think a little bit about Amsterdam.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Last month, we celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of our Dutch Olympic Committee. We were able to look back at a century of great accomplishments in sports. In those 100 years, sports developed from something for the elite in the beginning of last century, to a big factor in our society in the beginning of this one. But we also realized that the best things are still to come, that there is an even bigger future for sports in the whole world. In order to grab this future and make it into a bright one, we need to look at our youth. They are the key for a healthy and strong society. And that is why the theme of this conference today is so important. How do we get our youth to embrace the values that are connected to sports; respect, friendship, teamwork, fair play, excellent performances. And how do we find the best combination of culture, education and sports, in order to get the best results? Those are the questions that we will try to answer. Not only today, but also in the months and years ahead. Today is a good opportunity to learn from each other, from other countries and use each others experience and best practices.

I will use this opportunity to tell you something about the Dutch approach, on why and how I try to get our youth moving again. Away from their Play-station, Wii or X-Box and onto the field. It is not without a reason that we try to do so. Our research shows that more than half of our kids between 12 and 17 are not exercising enough and obesity is becoming a big problem. This results in a growing number of people suffering from diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. This is a challenge the IOC has addressed many times, and I totally agree that we need to find a solution. And to make sure that the kids don’t go home after school, grab a bag of chips and settle in front of the TV, we are investing in the connection between schools and sport clubs. In the Netherlands we have appointed thousands of neighborhood-sport-coaches who make the connection between school and sports on a day to day basis at local level. And I can tell you, it works! We see a bigger variety of sports, more activities organized by schools and sport clubs together and more enthusiasm for sports amongst our children.

As I said before, we need to look at each other’s best practices. We have a saying in the Netherlands: better copy something good, than invent something bad. That is why we are using the successful French EPODE method to fight obesity and stimulate a healthy lifestyle. And this program is showing us some great results. For example in a specific area of Utrecht, one of our biggest cities, in 4 years we managed a 7 percent decrease of obesity (from 27% to 20%) amongst children. This is the result of great commitment of teachers, sport coaches and health-care workers.

Unlike in many other countries, I am the minister of Healthcare and Sports. That gives me the unique possibility to really make the connection between these two. That is why I am also promoting healthy school lunches and canteens, creating safe walking- and bicycle lanes to and from school, making agreements with supermarkets on promoting healthy products for youth, making agreements with the industry to use less fat and less salt and we offer all schools a teaching program on healthy lifestyle. I believe that combining all these issues, working together in public-private partnerships, with sport clubs, schools and businesses, is vital in order to get the best result.

Sport is interconnected with everything else in society, with education in particular. And that is also true for professional sports. I see professional athletes as role-models for our children. When I see a great Dutch gymnast like Epke Zonderland competing at the Olympic Games, my greatest hope is that he wins gold and that children at home, watching him will say: ‘Wow, mom, I want to be on that stage as well!’ And that they walk away from the tv-screen and start playing sports themselves. And at that moment, when that child makes that decision, we need to make sure that there is a sport he can play in his neighborhood. And when the children go out to exercise, we need to grab the opportunity to reach the parents as well. We need to get mom and dad into the fitness-club or swimming pool before or after work. We need to get whole families, even grandma and grandpa sporting. Only then, we can make sure that healthy living and regular exercise becomes part of every family’s culture.

Professional sports is one of the accelerants towards keeping our youth active. That is one of the reasons why The Netherlands has the ambition to belong to the top of the world when it comes to sports. We need to take good care of our professional athletes. We invest in the training, support and education of our athletes. At this moment, we have four centers for top-sport and education. Here we not only focus on winning medals, but also on the social careers of our athletes. If you talk about combining sports and education, these facilities are the top of the bill.

Also internationally, the Netherlands try to play it’s part. We try to host many top-sporting events in many parts of the country. European Championships swimming, world championships field hockey, table tennis, gymnastics, cycling and maybe the Youth Olympic Games in the City of Rotterdam.

The Netherlands and different Dutch organizations are also active in promoting sports abroad, through the well know playgrounds of the Krajicek Foundation or the Johan Cruyff Courts for instance, which give children in disadvantaged neighborhoods a safe place to sport.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In would like to use this stand today to urge us all to work together, IOC, national Olympic committees, governments and private parties, to make sure that everyone, especially our youth, is able to exercise and dóes so. That we play sports, based on friendship instead of aggression, where people can be themselves, regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual preference. Only if we can achieve that, we can truly build a strong and vital society.

Decoration Dr. Rogge

Mister Chair, if you allow me, before leaving this stage, I would like to say some personal words to someone who has dedicated a big part of his life to achieve the things I just mentioned. Of course I am talking about the President of the IOC himself, dr. Jaques Rogge. Dr. Rogge, as a sailorman you have competed in 3 Olympic Games yourself. You were active not only on the water, but also on the field. If Rugby would have been an Olympic sport, you would have probably represented your country in that sport as well. Sailing and Rugby is not a very common combination I believe, but it shows that you are a true sportsman. After your active career, you could not leave the world of sports behind you and you stayed active in many sport governing organizations, resulting in the position you have occupied for the last 11 years now. In this position, you have been and still are of great importance for sports worldwide. You have always fought against doping and match fixing, and fór the integrity of the sports, fór the great champions and fór the inspiration sports can be for our youth. You have always managed to place sports above politics, resulting in a list of great Olympic Games under your leadership. And also under this leadership, the IOC has been granted the observer status of the United Nations.

Dr. Rogge, it is a great honor for me to announce here in front of this audience that it has pleased Her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands, for your outstanding service to the international society, to appoint you

Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau