The second Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Conference – entitled Waves of Change – DEI and Integrity Forum – that took place today (September 26) in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi marked a year of “great progress” across all key areas according to the DEI Commission chair Sarah Keane.
“I am very proud, on behalf of the Commission, to see that there has been so much action in such a short time,” she said.
“We have made great progress with our emphasis on education, on gender representation on leadership groups and on making political and practical connections with Special Olympics and the Para swimming movements.”
A year on from its first staging in Belfast, the Conference – which once again precedes the European Aquatics (EA) Congress – featured inspiring stories, first-hand insights and discussion of ethical questions.
In his opening address at the Republic Event Hall, European Aquatics President Antonio Silva said:
“I am delighted to be able to present the second edition of the DEI Forum, and to see so many members of the Aquatics family present. We are extremely grateful to the Georgian Aquatics federation and the Georgian Olympic Committee for hosting this important event, as well as our Congress in Tbilisi.”
Leri Khabelov, President of the Georgian Olympic Committee, added:
“It is a great pleasure and honour to host the Aquatics family. Georgia has a close relationship with European Aquatics, and we are working hard to support aquatic sport in a sustainable way.
“We are building swimming pools in all regions of the country and keen to make the sport open and available for all. We are a tolerant country and want to also have a welcoming and fair environment in our sports.”
Deftly presided over as MC by Denmark’s EA Bureau member Pernille Blume, who retired in 2022 having won three Olympic freestyle medals including 50m gold, the event consisted of three sessions.
The first of these, entitled Waves of Impact – Stories that Inspire, featured presentations from Jan Pommer, chief executive of the German Swimming Federation (DSV), Densign White, chief executive of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) and member of the SIGA diversity committee), Arnoud Strijbis, director of the Royal Netherlands Swimming Federation (KNZB) and Mary McMorrow, Director of Operations in Swim Ireland.
White stressed that diversity was a performance enhancer, but added: “You need to drive system change by measuring data in an objective way. You need to set DEI targets, invest in inclusive leadership but in an objective way.
“What is measured gets improved. In the UK, while minorities make up approximately 15% of the population, research carried out by Sporting Equals showed that the average involvement of minorities was only 5% amongst coaches, officials and senior leaders in national federations.
“Yet with action, this can be improved and Basketball England has now improved to a 25-30% in these areas with concerted action.”
Pommer reflected on the fact that the DSV had recently had a “serious safeguarding issue” with one of its divers, adding: “It led to an important moment in our history.
“With full consultation, especially with our athletes, we were able to take responsibility for past events and build a new framework and process based on the principle that everyone has the right, and expectation, to safe sport in aquatics.
“It is all about making our athletes the focus and encouraging a culture of speaking up and taking action to provide clear rules of conduct which can be of practical help in everyday training and competition, at all levels of the sport in Germany.
“We want to build trust amongst athletes but also parents whose children are entering the sport. Our experience can be useful to others, and we hope to have a joint understanding across Europe of this issue and to be able to share best practice.”
McMorrow offered details of a recent Swim Ireland initiative to re-open a key aquatics facility in the Irish capital.
“Swim Ireland, in collaboration with local and national authorities, found a way to reopen and manage a swimming pool in Sean MacDermott Street which had been closed to the public,” she said.
“Although this was an area of Dublin that faced great socio-economic disadvantages, the pool was opened at the end of 2023. And happily the pool is now at 90% capacity, with 200 daily visitors and 1,000 local kids benefiting from swimming lessons.
“With funding from local authorities, government and motivated staff we were able to improve the mental and physical health of a disadvantaged community.”
Stribjis spoke about the benefits of water basketball to a range of athletes.
“A fundamental part of our federation’s values is a desire to connect all our athletes as much as possible,” he said. “We want, as much as possible, to allow our athletes and para-athletes to be able to train and compete together and proud that our national training centre in Eindhoven is fully integrated.
“This allows our coaches to learn from each other. But in addition, we are very proud of the game water basketball, which is a team sport in a swimming pool that is totally accessible for athletes with or without disabilities.
“It is fun, easy to play, but also competitive and helps everyone to feel welcome and safe in the water. This is the best way for us to show inclusion in action.”
The second session, on the topic of Integrity, was opened by EA general secretary Noam Zwi.
“European Aquatics is committed to ensure that events and activities fall under our jurisdiction take the matter of integrity seriously,” he said.
“This ensures we safeguard our sport from corruption, promotes good governance, financial integrity and protects us from improper conduct.
“We now need to grow awareness of integrity issues amongst our sport family, and we plan to have a person specifically responsible to manage integrity issues at each of our competitions. The key principle moving forwards will be education.”
Sports lawyer Justin Lessard, senior manager of the Aquatics Integrity Unit, whose presentation was entitled Leading With Integrity, commented:
“Managing Integrity risks is vital to the long-term security and survival of both national and international sport federations, some of whom have suffered extremely serious damage due to corruption scandals.
“It is vital to create practical structures and procedures that allow you to handle informal or formal complaints in a way that respects all parties, protects complainants and allows investigations by external and independent persons.”
Justin ensured that the delegates could experience the practical benefits of proper integrity procedures, by engaging them with an exercise based on a fictitious, but realistic, athlete complaint.
The third section was entitled Athlete Forum: Special Olympic Voices.
It involved input from Georgia’s Special Olympics skier Mariam Khutsianidze and Special Olympics winter sports coach Anano Baidauri, Zhana Gotsireli, President of Special Olympics Georgia and Matteo Succhi, sports manager for Special Olympics Europe Eurasia.
“The decision to take up sport changed my life,” Khutsianidze said. “By training and competing I gained confidence not only in sport but for all the challenges in life. It was an amazing experience to win medals in skiing and now I know what I am capable of.”
Succhi commented: “Aquatics is considered a Level 1 sport in the Special Olympics.
“In Europe there are over 43,000 athletes from aquatics and 9,700 coaches and we are delighted that the agreement with European Aquatics, signed this summer in Samorin, is a three-year strategic plan with key actions in education, partnerships and communications.
“As our Special Olympics winter sports coach Anano Baidauri and Zhana Gotsireli, President of Special Olympics Georgia have said, the emotions and happiness they see in an athlete’s eyes show how the Special Olympics offers unique joy and camaraderie, and it goes in both directions.
But it is not easy to open the doors and have people listen, so we are very grateful to European Aquatics for this partnership opportunity.”
The Waves of Change forum concluded with an awards ceremony in which 31 national federations were recognised on stage for signing the DEI Statement.
Bringing proceedings to a close, Sarah Keane, the DEI Commission chair, said: “I want to encourage those member federations who have not yet signed up to the DEI charter to do so. By working together and sharing together we do better together.”
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
