The full Barbados contingent (athletes & officials) to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics had their pre-games meeting on Tuesday. Apart from the usual protocol & games business discussions from the Chef de Mission, the team also heard from the Olympic Movement Unit for the Prevention of Manipulation of Sports Competition NOCs’ Contact Manager, Evangelos Alexandrakis and Rida Ahmed on the topic ‘Prevention of Manipulation of Sports Competitions’ (PMC). This session was particularly important since the IOC has mandated that every NOC must sign on to the PMC’s code of conduct. The IOC continues to push for the preservation of fair sport and to halt incidences of match fixing and illegal betting and has instituted heavy sanctions for competition manipulation.
The delegation was also informed about the importance of safeguarding of athletes, in a presentation led by the Director of the National Olympic Academy, Vaneisha Cadogan. Safeguarding continues to be high on the list of concerns for our organization as we strive to continually protect our athletes, through education and by implementing the best policies and codes of conduct.