Sport stars concluded the Czech NOC’s Sport diplomacy course. The third edition started also with Danka Bartekova

Six-time Paralympic gold medallist Jiří Ježek, former basketball player Ilona Burgrová, Olympians Klára Křížová and Petra Juříčková together with the representatives of other sporting associations successfully completed their studies of the second year of Sport Diplomacy programme that is prepared by Czech Olympic Committee in co-operation with University of Economics, Slovak Olympic Committee and other institutions. They have met with the students of the third edition of this programme during their graduation ceremony. The new cycle started with the first module on 5 and 6 October 2019.

“I have gained the experience that I really missed. I have learned about how sport is organized in various countries, about sporting law matters, other cultures and international relations. I think that all of this was very important for all of us who came through the programme. It is only a beginning, because we all got very excited and we will want to continue with studying,” Jiří Ježek said about the programme.

His work on the topic “Analyses of Current Structure of the Paralympic Sport in the Czech Republic and the Proposal for its modernisation” was evaluated as one of the best five projects. The reward was also won by Veronika Mácová (Comparison of the Czech Paralympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee Structures), Ilona Burgrová (How to Increase the Number of Women in the Management in Basketball Structures with the Aim of Former Players Involvement) and also by Lenka Rudová from Czech Athletic Federation (Education in the Sector of Doping Prevention). The prize for the best project was awarded to Jiřina Prokopová, who elaborated the topic “Cheating in Chess”.

“We have decided to appreciate the best works because competing with each other simply belongs to sport. Furthermore, the quality of all the works is really high,” said Roman Kumpošt, Vice-President of the Czech Olympic Committee for International Relations.“I am glad that our studying programme is being developed, the interest is growing, and we have highly motivated students in the third year of the programme who want to get involved in working at their sport associations and in the international field. This would not be possible without the support of University of Economics and other institutions, commitment of all the organisation team members and lecturers who are experts in their areas,” Roman Kumpošt added.

The students of the third edition, including London 2012 Olympian Lenka Masná (track and field), had a chance to attend the lecture of Lev Belousov, rector of Russian International Olympic University. Danka Barteková, bronze Olympic medallist in shooting and member of the IOC Athletes’s Commission and chairperson of the Coordination Commission for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne also presented her career in the field of sport diplomacy. First module also covered history of sports diplomacy, its tools, work of international sport federations or some practical cases related to the topic of sport diplomacy.