SLOVAK OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CELEBRATES 25th ANNIVERSARY
The Slovak Olympic Committee celebrated its 25th Anniversary at National Theatre in Bratislava on 22 September.
Among those in attendance were several Slovak Olympic medallists, as well as past and present Board members. They were joined by many representatives of the EOC Executive Committee, who flew to Bratislava directly from Stockholm, where they had 3rd meeting of the year.
The history of the NOC was reflected upon with speeches and greetings from founding members and Honorary Presidents Vladimír Černušák and František Chmelár.
Also EOC President Janez Kocijančič retraced in his speech the steps of the NOC’s history and congratulated the Slovak athletes and Olympians who have been competing at the highest level and winning medals for far longer than 25 years.
“For a country of just five and a half million people, Slovakia has won significantly more than its fair share of Olympic medals”, Kocijancic commented.
The excellent initiatives of the former long-time NOC President František Chmelár, which are now expertly being undertaken by current President Anton Siekel and General Secretary Jozef Liba, were also praised.
Slovakia has never gone to an Olympic Games – Summer or Winter – and returned empty-handed.
Most recently at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, the country took home a gold and two silver medals, reaching over the last 25 years a total Olympic medal haul of an impressive 36: 12 gold, 16 silver and 8 bronze.
The Slovak Olympic Committee was founded on 19th December 1992 and, on occasion of the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo on 24th September 1993, was fully recognised as the National Olympic Committee of Slovak Republic.
The following year the NOC participated in its first Winter and Summer Olympics respectively in Lillehammer and Atlanta. These were followed by 6 consecutive participations in the Summer Olympics and 7 consecutive Winter ones.
It is also noteworthy to mention that the number of women athletes in relation to the total number of athletes who attended each edition has steadily increased.
