04 May 2023

Olympic silver medallist Arsen Julfalakyan from Armenia, who chairs the United World Wrestling (UWW) Athletes’ Commission, and Gaby Ahrens from Namibia, who competed in the sport of shooting at three editions of the Olympic Games and now chairs the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) Athletes’ Commission, addressed the parliamentarians. 

“As you know very well, unfortunately in Africa, we are very familiar with the issue of armed conflict between countries and within countries. That’s why this topic is very important to athletes in our continent as, for us in Africa, the issue of wars and armed conflict is not foreign,” Gaby Ahrens said. 

She referred to the discussions of 100 athlete representatives at the Africa Athletes’ Forum last month, and quoted the resolution they agreed on: “Athletes should never pay the price of a conflict whatever it is and wherever it is. Politics should not put pressure on sport to withdraw from its fundamental values of solidarity and unity.” She concluded: “On behalf of athletes from Africa and our Commission, I would like to reiterate that athletes should never pay the price of a conflict their government is involved in.”

Read the full article published on the IOC website here: