Memorable visit to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne

On Friday 20th April 2012, the CIES/FIFA Master 12th edition class made a prestigious visit to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne.

The CIES is proud of the increasing numbers of course graduates who are now working at the IOC and the visit to Lausanne this year was made particularly special with so many of those alumni able to take part in the programme of lectures and presentations.

The intensive day started with the IOC Director General, Christophe De Kepper, welcoming the CIES/FIFA Master postgraduates to the home of one of the most famous sporting organisations in the world. This was followed by an overview of the IOC and the wider activities of the Olympic Movement by Head of Corporate Development, Marie Sallois-Dembreville.

After morning presentations from the IOC Human Resources department and opportunities for photographs, the 12th edition class were joined by senior IOC representative, Pierre Ducrey. Pierre, who is a graduate from the 3rd edition of the programme, is Head of Games Coordination at the IOC. He was accompanied by 10th edition graduate, Sarah Crumbach, who is now an IOC Project Assistant.

The morning programme of talks concluded with a detailed overview of the IOC Television and Marketing services department.

Following a very enjoyable lunch with all of the course alumni who are now working at the IOC, the class had the opportunity to learn about the activities of the IOC Sports department. This was a particularly memorable presentation with the session speakers of Damien Mollard (10th edition), Isabella Burczak (6th edition) and Gordon Templeman (11th edition) all CIES/FIFA Master alumni.

The afternoon moved to consider the important functions of the IOC Legal Affairs and Youth Olympic Games departments. The class was particularly delighted to be joined in this session by the French biathlete Vincent Defrasne who was a gold medal winner in the 12.5 km pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and a bronze medal winner at the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City. It was the perfect way to end such a memorable day.

The CIES and 12th edition class would like to take this opportunity to thank again the IOC and all of the guest speakers who contributed to such an informative and enjoyable programme of presentations.