The European Athletics Association held their board meeting. One of the decisions is their support of Black Lives Matter.
European Athletics has added its voice to many others from across the sporting spectrum, and elsewhere, in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement at the Executive Board meeting on Wednesday (10), held by video conference due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In his opening statement to the Executive Board, European Athletics Interim President, Dobromir Karamarinov, said: “The world has been rocked by the events that have occurred in the USA these past weeks since the death of George Floyd on 25 May and athletics has felt the impact of what has happened as much as any sport on the planet.
“At European Athletics, we stand strongly behind our Code of Ethics that states, “there shall be no discrimination in Athletics on the basis of race, sex, ethnic origin, colour, culture, religion, political opinion, marital status, sexual orientation or any unfair or other irrelevant factor.”
“Now, more than ever, we must take notice and work together with our athletes and Member Federations to make sure that we live up to these words.”
In other decisions taken at the meeting, it was agreed to transform the annual European Athletics Convention scheduled to take place in October this year in Tallinn, Estonia into an online e-Convention.
This due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding travel between many countries in Europe caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the possibility that some Member Federations may not to be able to attend in person.
The Convention in 2021 will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The European Athletics U18 Championships, postponed in 2020, were confirmed for Rieti, Italy from 26-29 August 2021.
Taking advantage of the increased connectivity and use of technology due to the lockdown, the Executive Board approved a series of information exchange workshops with its Member Federations entitled: ‘Member Federations and European Athletics’ Leaders e-Meetings 2020′.
The next meeting of the European Athletics Executive Board is scheduled for 23 July 2020.
