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The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo have just ended, but tomorrow/Friday there will be another important day on the agenda of the Belgian Olympic and International Olympic Committee (BOIC). He will then be elected as a successor to President Pierre-Olivier Beckers, who has held this position since December 2004. The two candidates were former table tennis player Jean-Michel Saif (51) and former judoka Heidi Raquels (53).
Jonas WithockSource: Belgian
Former judoka Raquel, a bronze medalist at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, has a goal for women to be the most senior position in the sport. If elected, she also wants Belgium to win one medal per million inhabitants at the Olympics, a total of 11 medals. The Rakels want to achieve their goals, among other things, by creating more major sporting projects. “In previous Olympics, we’ve seen some great sporting projects really come true,” she stated in her campaign. “We have to keep going, but we have to create more: in big sports and in team sports, but also in smaller sports. However, we must not make the mistake of losing our focus. That is why we do not give a little to everyone, but we support projects based on Good foundations with a high chance of success.”
In addition to her career as a top judoka, Raquels also works as a civil engineer for computer science and served as CEO of Guardsquare, the software company she founded in 2014 with partner Eric Laforton. In 2019, Raquels took over the presidency of the company, but she was first awarded the title of Woman of the Year in the field of ICT.
Former World Champion Save
Saive is a resounding name in the Belgian sports world. He is a former No. 1 in the world and has participated in the Olympic Games seven times (a record for a Belgian). He has a lot of experience as a sports director. For example, the Liege resident became a member of the BOIC Board of Directors in 2009 and has been one of the organization’s vice presidents since 2017. Internationally, he has also been involved in various roles with the International Table Tennis Federation, the EOC (European Olympic Committees) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Saive program is divided into ten points. The “athlete at the heart of every debate” is one of them. “To reach the world top — BOIC’s vision translates this into a Top 8 at the Olympics — with the ambition to continue progressing (each athlete’s DNA), athletes need support, support, encouragement and direction to do their best. In the best of circumstances,” Saif stressed in the run-up to the election. Furthermore, Saive emphasized the importance of continuing to support composite teams and teams, as well as the Be Gold project for young talents.
