NOCZ President's end of year message on 2020 activities

The year 2020 has been a challenging, not only for sport but also in our day to day lives. The world around us seemed to have stopped as we all fought against the COVID-19 pandemic, and due to the diligence of everyone we have seen remarkable improvement in the right direction for our society, and such actions have led us here today.

Despite COVID – 19 almost bringing the world to its knees due to its unprecedented and unpredictable spread which resulted into the postponing of the 2020 Summer Olympics officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and commonly known as Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, we had to adopt new ways of managing of our Strategic Plan, Secretariat Operations and the delivery of our development agenda for sports and Olympism in our country.

As you may be aware, the goal of the Olympic Movement in Zambia is to ensure that all members of the Olympic family in the country are better served regardless of their circumstances.

The year 2020 saw the NOCZ spearhead and deliver a number of activities with and through its International and local partners among them training of sports administrators and NOCZ staff under the new normal, both physically and virtually.

We strived to achieve our vision through commitment commensurate with its leadership and role in sports administration and management.

In line with our Strategic Plan, we continued to promote Olympism in Zambia through the Olympic Day, which was hosted in June. For the first time, the Olympic Day activities were held virtually with people participating from the comfort of their homes, we collaborated with Kwame Nkrumah University to host an Independence Day Olympic Value Education Programme (OVEP) conference as part of the activities.

THE Independence Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) Conference event was held at Nkrumah University under the theme: Advancing critical thinking and innovation in OVEP. Photo courtesy of; NOCZ Media

NOCZ made significant progress to empower and give athletes a platform.

Through the Athletes Commission, we managed to host an Athletes Round Table Meeting for Athlete Representatives from our affiliate sports federations where they had an opportunity to voice out and share critical concerns related to their preparation and performance in major competitions.

On behalf of the Board, I congratulate the Boxing Trio of Evaristo Mulenga, Patrick Chiyemba and Steven Zimba for qualifying to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in this same vein I congratulate the Zambia National Women’s Team popularly known as the She-polopolo or Copper Queens led by their Captain Barbara Banda for qualifying to the Olympic Games for the first time in history.

L-R: BOXERS Evaristo Mulenga, Patrick Chinyemba and Stephen Zimba's qualification to the Olympics in Tokyo was one of the success stories of Zambian sports in 2020.

These achievements are a result of continued investment in the athletes through the Olympic Solidarity scholarships and direct support from their national associations, giving them opportunities for training, preparation and participation in high-level competitions.

I take this opportunity to thank our cooperating partners, national sports federations and associations for their efforts during the year to make our sport better than it was before.

I extend my thanks to the NOCZ staff and various commissions for their important works, their updates and their patience in doing all the planned activities for the year.

There is no doubt that 2020 is another milestone year for the NOCZ. As we forge on into 2021, our previous triumphs continue to form the anchors for our successes in the future.

"We strived to achieve our vision through commitment commensurate with its leadership and role in sports administration and management."

With increasing support from all our partners, NOCZ has never held so much promise. In addition, it is this promise that we use to continue writing our own victories in History.

However, let us not be complacent, I encourage all sports federations to continue observing the COVID-19 protocols as guided by authorities and the Ministry of Health.

National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) President Alfred Foloko