IOC President drops in on Oceania rowing

What had originally been planned as a visit to look at sport in Vanuatu, turned into a look at the damage caused by Cyclone Pam to local sports facilities. Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in early March causing massive destruction with 90 per cent of the country’s buildings being damaged by the storm.

President Bach, along with the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Joe Natuman visited the Port Vila Rowing Club, the home of Vanuatu’s top rowers and the Vanuatu Rowing Association. An official welcome was held as well as an awards ceremony. The rowing club building itself was fortunate in that it incurred minimal damage from Cyclone Pam, but equipment inside the club sustained damage due to the heavy rains.

Prime Minister Natuman stated; “Despite the devastation, sport remains vital to Vanuatu. We will try to support sport in whatever way we can and to respect the independence of sport.”

Natuman thanked the IOC who, through Olympic Solidarity, had helped with the establishment of the rowing club along with the Australia and New Zealand Rowing Federations and the World Rowing Federation, FISA.

This was the first visit of an IOC president to Vanuatu in 25 years and it gave President Bach insight into how the US$500,000 grant from the IOC and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) would be used in helping to rebuild sporting facilities.

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IOC President Thomas Bach watches the New Zealand rowing team practice ©Ian Jones/IOC

The IOC Oceania tour then travelled to New Zealand where, again, President Bach spent time with rowers. Visiting Rowing New Zealand’s high performance centre at Lake Karapiro (venue of the 2010 World Rowing Championships), President Bach tried out the rowing machine as well as spending time in a coaching launch on the water.