Sports Diplomacy and the 2022 Beijing Olympics

The 2022 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games are taking place throughout the month of February, with events happening in various locations in northern China. The International Olympic Committee has asserted that the games are a means of ‘unifying humanity through elite sports’ and thus must aim to be politically neutral. However, the Beijing Games have faced controversy, with a number of countries diplomatically ‘boycotting’ the Games by refusing to send government representatives in protest. Such decisions have sparked a wider discussion around the tension between sports diplomacy and the unifying power of the Olympic spirit in global affairs. Join us just one week after the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to discuss the wider use of sports diplomacy in international relations as well as how sports can be used to unify, rather than divide, with a focus on European and Asian countries.

Speakers

Thierry Zintz 

Emeritus Professor at UCLouvain, Former VP of the Belgian IOC

Thierry Zintz is an emeritus professor of Sports Organisations Management at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He was the Dean of the Faculty between 2010 and 2016. He is in charge of the Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour – Jacques Rogge in Management of Sport Organisations at the same university. In this framework, he works closely with the Louvain Research Institute in Management (LouRIM) as a senior researcher and member of the Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovation Strategies (CRECIS). He was also Vice-President of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee from 2001 until 2017 and is Past-President of the European Observatory of Sport and Employment (EOSE). From May 2010 until September 2021, he was the director of MEMOS, an Executive Master in Management of Sport organisations, organised by the International Olympic Committee. He is a member of the Olympic Education Commission of the International Olympic Committee (since 2015) and of the Standing Committee for Education of the World Antidoping Agency (since 2018). He is Vice-President of the board of directors of Special Olympics Belgium.

Dr J. Simon Rofe 

Reader at the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy, at SOAS University of London

Dr J. Simon Rofe is Reader in Diplomatic and International Studies in the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, at SOAS University of London: he was the School’s Head of Digital Learning (2016-2020) and is Programme Director for the MA Global Diplomacy. Simon has an international research profile addressing sports diplomacy, with a particular focus upon sports relationship with diplomatic practice and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.) Simon has developed the first MA module globally to address ‘Sport and Diplomacy: More than a Game’, following a role in the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) in 2012. Simon founded the Sport, Diplomacy, and Governance Hub, which provides for multi-directional knowledge exchange, and has established the Global Sports Conversations podcast series. Simon’s has established a strong multinational network of relevant contacts in the realm of Sport and Diplomacy.

Karen Tanchanco-Caballero 

Deputy Secretary General at The Philippine Olympic Committee

Karen Claire Tanchanco-Caballero is the current Deputy Secretary General of the Philippine Olympic Committee and a former National Athlete/Archer. She is also the first Woman Vice President of The Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF) and the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) as well as Chair of Women in Sports Committee of ISTAF and ASTAF. Moreover, she holds a role as the Vice Chair of Women in Sports Commission at the Philippine Olympic Committee and as Board Member of the Air Force Special Services Group, Multi-Sector Advisory Board focusing on Gender and Development and Sports and Athlete's Management and Programs. She is also serving as Deputy Chef de Mission of team Philippines for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China as well as having previously served as the Chairperson of Women and Sports Committee of The Southeast Asian Games Federation, Sports Director of the Philippines SEA Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) and Chef de Mission of Team Philippines for the 2016 Asian Beach Games in Da Nang, Vietnam. A firm believer that sports plays a crucial role in Nation Building, she is committed to continue her volunteer work for the Filipino athletes and her advocacy to Women in Sports locally and abroad.