The Athlete Role Model Program

Hey folks,

Don't let the headline confuse you - today's entry is another edition of the Cultured and Education Program series. However, since the Athlete Role Model (ARM) program is such a key element in the CEP, I'll dedicate an exclusive entry to the ARM. Technically, it belongs to the Youth Olympic Competence Project, which I will write about in one of the entries to come.

The philosophy behind the ARM is rather simple: Who could be a better teacher to young athletes (the YOG participants are between 14 and 18 years old) than athletes that are several steps ahead of them and know perfectly well how they feel like. They have the best credentials in the world to do this job: All of the athletes serving as role models are former Olympians, many of them having won a medal. The program itself is coordinated by Vincent Defrasne, Olympic Champion in Biathlon and a fabulous guy.

The ARM were already a big hit at the inaugural YOG in Singapore in 2010. Usually, they would be surrounded by dozens of athletes, eyes and mouths wide open, listening to their role models. Compared to Singapore, the ARM has been modified in a very important was though. The ARM have never been very shy - they would always walk around in the village, open to ask any questions the athletes might have. However, the only problem was: You never really knew where they could be found. I remember desperately trying to meet Jackson Richardson, one of the all-time greats in my sport. I eventually found out where he could be found at a particular time - just my luck, I had so much work to do at that point that I could not go ;).

So in Innsbruck, the Athlete Role Models will have their own stand where athletes can go and meet them. Like most of the CEP activities, this stand will be located at the Congress Innsbruck. However, being former athletes, they are not stationary: Vincent told me that they will of course also join in at the various CEP activities or go to the venues. Thus, it will become much easier for athletes to contact the role models and look for advice with challenges they might face. Furthermore, we have talked of maybe letting the Young Ambassadors know beforehand where to find the athlete role models, so we can give our delegation a heads up. I really hope we can put that on track.

The list of ARM really features a lot of well-known Olympians from the past. I just can't wait to take my delegation to meet them!

Nordic Combined: Samppa Lajunen (2x Olympian, 5x medalist)
Cross Country: Petra Majdič (3x Olympian, 1x medalist, source of great inspiration)
Alpine Skiing: Marco Büchel (6x (!) Olympian)
Freestyle Skiing: Shannon Bahrke Happe (3x Olympian, 2x medalist)
Snowboarding: Nicola Thost (2x Olympian, 1x medalist)
Ski Jump: Andreas Küttel (3x Olympian)
Biathlon: Vincent Defrasne (3x Olympian, 3x medalist)
Ice Hockey: Jennifer Botterill (4x Olympian, 4x medalist)
Skeleton: Kerstin Szymkowiak (1x Olympian, 1x medalist)
Luge: Alexander Resch (3x Olympian, 2x medalist)
Figure Skating: Stéphane Lambiel (3x Olympian, 1x medalist)
Speed Skating: Jeremy Wotherspoon (4x Olympian, 1x medalist)
Curling: Eve Muirhead (1x Olympian) and Uli Kapp (2x Olympian)

In addition to the discipline representatives, there will also be other great athletes. I met some of them in Singapore and can assure you that they are role models in the truest sense of the word: Frank Fredericks, Charmaine Crooks (her German is impressive by the way!!), Hicham El Guerrouj (my friends from Morocco still have to explain the pronunciation of his last name to me), Barbara Kendall (a great drummer, see the photo!) or Angela Ruggiero, just to name a few. And last but not least, there is a third group of role models being closer to the athletes than anyone else: The Young Ambassadors, especially Nadia, Ana, Ramone, Sarah, Luiza, Peter, Kamila, Maca, Nathalie, Kateryna and Alina (I am sure I have forgotten somebody...sorry guys :)) as Olympians are of course always happy to assist the athletes.

I am sure the ARM will be an amazing experience for the athletes coming to Innsbruck. I will definitely encourage my athletes to go see their role models and ask them all the questions they want to have answered.

So long,
Flo