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A stellar line-up of former world and Olympic champions will grace the AIPS Centennial Celebration set for the UNESCO headquarters on August 6 at 9:30am. Moses, Loroupe, Grey-Thompson, Quirot i Coe među 15 prvaka pridružit će se proslavi stogodišnjice AIPS-a u sjedištu UNESCO-a
JOURNALISTS ON THE PODIUM These 15 champions, including Laureus World Sports Academy Members, will play a significant role in honouring journalists who have dedicated many years to capturing and telling countless summer and winter Olympic stories, having covered 10 or more Olympic Games. Since London 2012, the AIPS Journalists on the Podium has been an impactful event that not only recognises veterans but also inspires the younger generation of sports journalists.
AIPS AND LAUREUS AIPS also partnered with Laureus for the Journalists on the Podium event at London 2012 and Rio 2016, with more than 100 veteran journalists celebrated on each occasion. Both organisations share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people together and improve the lives of young people around the world.
Today we introduce the first five Nawal El Moutawakel, Donna de Varona, Kipchoge Keino, Daley Thompson and Nicol David
NAWAL EL MOUTAWAKEL Recently elected IOC vice-president at the Committee's 142nd session in Paris, Nawal El Moutawakel made history in 1984 when she became the first Moroccan, African and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Her incredible performance inspired the whole African continent and the achievement has remained a symbol of hope and perseverance for many African female athletes. Following her Olympic success the King of Morocco decreed that all girls born on the date of her victory were to be named in her honour.
She still remains active in Moroccan athletics and for many years was involved in the Government. She was Inspector at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (1989 -1997), Secretary of State to the Minister of Social Affairs, responsible for Youth and Sport (1997-1998) and Minister of Youth and Sports (2007-2009).
In 1995, she became a council member of the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics) and two years later became the first Muslim woman ever to be elected to the International Olympic Committee. She has been a member and Chair of several IOC Commissions and in July 2012 she was elected IOC vice-president for the first time - the first woman from a Muslim and Arab nation ever to be elected. She served until 2016.
She was a founder member of the Laureus World Sports Academy and has been Vice Chair and Trustee of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. In 2010 she won the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award for her work for women in sport and the International Olympic Committee.
DONNA DE VARONA Donna de Varona made her Olympic debut in 1960 at only 13-years-old, as the youngest member of the US swim team, competing only in the relay heats but by the next Summer Games in 1964 she had become the best known woman swimmer in the world, having set 18 world records. She was voted by both AP and UPI as the top female athlete of 1964.
At the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, she swam to gold, both in the 400 individual medley and in the 4×100 freestyle relay and made the cover of several national magazines. She used her fame to launch a career in sportscasting, first with ABC and then with NBC. She was the first female sportscaster in the United States and the first to cover the Olympics for television, which she did in 1968, 1972, and 1976.
She is recognised for her work as an Emmy award-winning sports journalist, having covered 17 Olympic Games. She has been appointed by three IOC Presidents to the Women in Sport Commission and served as Chairman of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. De Varona has served on the United States Olympic Committee Board and Foundation, the United States Soccer Foundation, the International Special Olympics Executive Board, and is an advisor to the US Department of State Empowering Women Through Sport initiative. She has been very active in promoting women's sports, and amateur sports in general.
KIPCHOGE KEINO Kipchoge Keino, famously known as ‘Kip’ is one of Kenya’s greatest Olympic athletes and one of the most influential long-distance runners in the world, who paved the way for his country’s dominance in distance running.
Two years after he began his international running career, Keino represented Kenya, in their first games as an independent nation, at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, finishing fifth in the 5,000 metres. Later in the same year, he set two world records, at 3,000m and 5,000m.
He is most remembered for his performance at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where, after having to jog a mile to the stadium because the bus from the Olympics Village was stuck in traffic, he won the 1,500m with an Olympic record time of 3 mins 34.9 secs. The mark stood until 1984. He also won the silver medal in the 5,000m, despite a gallbladder infection. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, he won his second Olympic gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase and also won a silver medal in the 1,500m.
He retired from the track in 1973, but has since continued to make a great impact in Kenyan sports through different other roles: head coach, Chef de Mission of the Kenyan national team, then member, first Vice-Chairman and eventually President of the National Olympic Committee.
The honorary member of the IOC received an Olympic Order in 2011 and then the Olympic Laurel in 2016. Also known as the father of Kenyan athletics, Keino has a a track and field meeting named after him in Kenya: the Kip Keino Classic.
DALEY THOMPSON British decathlon legend Daley Thompson was arguably the world’s greatest all-round athlete during the 1980’s. He won more decathlon honours than anybody before him.
Thompson, who made his debut in the decathlon at 16, is the only man to win two Olympic gold medals and a World Championship. He also created four world records, won three Commonwealth gold medals and two European Championships.
Throughout the 1980s, he won 19 decathlons, including 12 in a row. He clinched his first Olympic gold medal at 21 years old at the Moscow 1980. In 1983, he added the World Championship gold medal to his impressive collection of Olympic, European and Commonwealth titles.
Then at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, he won the Olympic decathlon title for the second time.
NICOL DAVID Malaysia’s Nicol David is widely regarded as the greatest women’s player in the history of squash. Although the sport’s Olympic inclusion came too late for the former World No.1, she is currently living her dream at Paris 2024 as her country’s Deputy Chef de Mission.
David was No.1 in the world for a record-breaking 108 months until September 2015, and won the World Open a record eight times between 2005 and 2014. She also won the British Open five times and two Commonwealth Games gold medals.
She was the first Asian woman to reach No.1 in the squash world rankings and was named World Player of the Year on seven occasions between 2005 and 2012. She turned professional in 2000 and retired in June 2019. She is also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.
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