Election of a new committee was not the only key issue that was at the centre of discussions at the Ordinary General Assembly among member federations of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC), held on Saturday, April 3. With Sports Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Didier Shema Maboko in attendance, the General Assembly discussed, shared experiences and took decisions on different matters varying from elections to plans to build new offices of RNOSC’s among other key issues. Times Sport looks at five key points that shaped the Olympic Committee’s General Assembly: Current Olympic Committee’s term to expire in August The current committee’s term in office expired last month, but will remain in charge until August to pave way for elections for the new committee shortly after the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This was agreed after the General Assembly voted 28-21 to hold the elections for a new executive committee after the olympics. As a result, member federations of RNOSC will let the current committee’s term in office remain until August to give them time to focus on helping athletes in the preparations for the Olympic Games in Tokyo and then resume elections after the Olympic Games. Disagreement over elections date Different federations were divided over whether elections would happen before or after the Olympic Games. The Olympics will be held in July. The General Assembly proposed provisional elections to take place either on May 15 (before the Olympic Games) or October 9 (after Olympic Games) but the latter was approved in favor of member federations who supported the idea of holding elections after the Tokyo 2020 Games. It is now scheduled that aspirants will submit their candidacy to the electoral committee from September 24-30 while the election campaign will take place from October 1-8 a day before the elections are held on October 9. Olympic Committee’s new offices in pipeline The Olympic Committee has on many occasions been trying to push and mobilise funds to get new headquarters in vain. The Olympic committee’s current base at the National Amahoro Stadium in Remera, has a budget of Rwf 100 million to get its new offices and the committee’s president Valens Munyabagisha assured that RNOSC will get its new offices before the end of this year. He said that they are considering buying an already completed premise. The new offices will also accommodate a number of sports federations that don’t have their own offices. To date, only the Football governing body (FERWAFA), and the Basketball Federation (FERWABA) have their own offices. Skating Federation’s membership approved Skating is among the four games that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently approved for Paris 2024, alongside surfing, breakdancing and sport climbing. Three of them, except breakdancing, will also be a part of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The approval of Skating among Olympic events motivated local enthusiasts to establish the federation in 2016. After five years of existence, the General Assembly of the Olympic Committee approved the Skating federations among its member federations after it was impressed by its organization, competitions and structure. Tokyo 2020 Games preparations The Olympic Committee has distributed Rwf 227 million to athletes who either booked the ticket for the Olympic Games and those who are still in race to secure tickets for the Games slated from July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo, Japan. So far, six athletes including two in Athletics, two in Cycling and two in Swimming, are guaranteed to represent Rwanda at the Tokyo 2020 Games while the number could rise to ten if men and women’s Beach Volleyball teams secure places in upcoming Beach Volleyball World Tour skated in May. To help them in the preparations, the Olympic Committee provided Rwf 80 million to Athletics, Rwf 108 million for Cycling and Rwf 39 million for Beach Volleyball while it is also looking for funds to support the swimming team.
