{"id":28705,"date":"2024-12-27T11:03:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T17:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/?post_type=news-sport&p=28705"},"modified":"2024-12-27T11:03:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T17:03:11","slug":"in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle","status":"publish","type":"news-sport","link":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tremendously successful 2024 comes to an end for Pan American sport. A historic participation of the continent in the Olympic Games in Paris that, undoubtedly, is an incentive to start with strength and motivation a new season full of great challenges.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Balance of the year, Asunci\u00f3n 2025, Lima 2027 and his candidacy to the IOC Executive Board, are just some of the topics that President Neven Ilic talked about in this interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several media are looking for President Neven Ilic at this time of the year to take stock of what was an extremely successful season for Pan American sport.<\/p>\n

Paris 2024 really showed how the sport has grown in our continent, and the results achieved by the member countries speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

The best medal harvest in Olympic Games in the history of the Americas with 220 medals and outstanding results of several nations, some of them historic, are clear evidence that the sport and our athletes of the continent have had an important development.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the tranquility and satisfaction of the highest authority of sport in the Americas at the end of this year. The joint work with the National Olympic Committees is bearing fruit. However, he is aware that there is still much to do, work and grow.<\/p>\n

How do you evaluate this year 2024 for Pan American sport?<\/strong>
\n\u201cI think we have had a great year as a continent. In that evaluation it is important to analyze if we are improving as a continent or not, and I think the way to measure ourselves was Paris. And the Olympic Games were, in modern years, the best presentation of the Americas, with the highest number of medals in history. In addition, we had small countries that shone because for the first time they had gold medals, and those medals were very important. Such is the case of Saint Lucia with Julien Alfred and Dominica with Thea Lafond, or Chile with Francisca Crovetto, or Guatemala with Adriana Ruano, just to name a few. All this is the result of hard work, of years of sacrifice of athletes, coaches and leaders. We are making progress, and that makes me very happy and proud.<\/p>\n

How important has the joint work with the National Olympic Committees, members of Panam Sports, been in obtaining the results?<\/strong>
\nIt has been key. We met with all of them in my first period at the helm of Panam Sports, then in my second and now we will meet in April in Miami with the 41 countries to evaluate how the program we did together with them was, in order to outline how Panam Sports can contribute to the growth of sport in their countries, and for each Olympic Committee to work together with us. Today we face an even greater challenge. After the success of Santiago 2023 and Paris 2024, we want to continue to grow and hopefully continue to improve in terms of results, but to achieve this, we must all do our part.<\/p>\n

CANDIDATE FOR THE IOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next March, President Thomas Bach’s mandate as head of the International Olympic Committee will come to an end after 12 years in office. In Greece, an election will be held for the new president and also for the organization’s Executive Committee.<\/p>\n

Although the name of President Neven Ilic sounded strongly for a candidacy for the Presidency of the IOC, in the end it did not materialize, for strictly personal reasons.<\/p>\n

In the Olympic Movement, many considered you as a candidate to succeed Thomas Bach. Was that really an option?<\/strong>
\n\u201cI did indeed consider, internally, the possibility of running for the IOC presidency. But I quickly came to the conclusion that it would have a lot of family costs for me. I don’t live in Europe, I don’t live an hour away from the IOC like many other candidates. When you analyze this, you think about completing the project, which really lasts eight plus four, 12 years. I am sixty-two, I have my children and in February I will have my first granddaughter. I felt that it was taking me far away from my family, because of a personal longing. But that longing was going to have consequences all around me and in my job as well. In Chile, I am a real estate developer, so it was also going to affect me. In the end it was a decision I discussed with my wife. We evaluated the pros and cons and decided against it.<\/p>\n

Is the dream of being IOC president over for Neven Ilic then?<\/strong>
\nBecause of my age, my dream of being IOC president is over. At the age of 70, IOC Members cease to be members. I am 62, plus the eight of the next president, I have reached seventy and I would no longer be able to run. However, today I am presenting a candidacy to the IOC Executive Board, in an election that will take place in Greece. I am very proud of the path I have taken in Olympism. In addition, I am very grateful, because it has given me another way of looking at the world, it has allowed me to meet many people, it has allowed me to face other types of challenges such as leading Panam Sports and doing my best to work for the 41 member countries. The challenge of being the visible head of a Pan American Games is a very big responsibility. My first challenge was Lima 2019 and much more challenging was the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games in my country. I feel very proud as a Chilean to have had this party in Chile and that it has been a success.<\/p>\n

What do you consider Thomas Bach’s leadership of the IOC to have been like?<\/strong>
\nIt culminates 12 tremendously successful years with the leadership of President Thomas Bach, where he was able to position the Olympic world at great levels, Olympic Games, audience, marketing and integration of all of us with the IOC. He went through difficult times and was able to overcome them, such as the Olympic Games in pandemic. I am very grateful for all that the President, Thomas Bach, has done for Olympic sport. And personally, I admire him very much. He has always supported me and I have a great friendship with him.<\/p>\n

ASUNCI\u00d3N 2025, LIMA 2027, BOXING AND NEW SPORTS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The new Olympic cycle starts this 2025, with the II Junior Pan American Games in Asunci\u00f3n. After the success of Cali 2021, Panam Sports is preparing everything for the great youth sports festival in Paraguay, which has the great attraction of delivering more than 120 direct qualifiers for Lima 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working hard with the Organizing Committee of Asunci\u00f3n 2025. The sports calendar has already been communicated, the construction of new venues and remodeling of others is in full swing, and all the teams are working for the success of this great event. Cali 2021 marked the beginning of successful careers of several athletes who shone in Santiago 2023 and then consolidated in Paris 2024. That is the essence of these Games and we are sure that Asunci\u00f3n, like Cali, will be a success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There are several questions regarding the sports program for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games. Will there be boxing? Will the new sports considered for Los Angeles 2028 be included? The president of Panam Sports addressed these issues:<\/p>\n

What about boxing, President, will we have this sport in Lima 2027?<\/strong>
\n\u201cAIBA, the current International Boxing Federation, has no relationship with the International Olympic Committee so the sport of boxing today is outside any activity, both IOC and Panam Sports. Today there is a worldwide will to recover Olympic boxing. In the IOC there is a vision that it is necessary to retake boxing within our Olympic activities, because it is very relevant for many countries, especially for America.<\/p>\n

Have you had any contact with the World Boxing authorities?<\/strong>
\nA few days ago I met with World Boxing to see how we can collaborate to speed up the process, both the IOC recognition and the integration of boxing in our Pan American Games in Lima. Today, of the 41 countries in our organization, 17 of them are integrated in World Boxing, but as Panam Sports we need more countries to join. We hope that in March, the IOC will provisionally accept World Boxing. Progress has been made and we are very close to consolidating the return of boxing to the Olympic world, and that would allow for a reconsideration on our part, so that we can include it in Lima 2027 and hopefully in the future in Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032.<\/p>\n

There will be new sports in Los Angeles 2028: Flag Football, Baseball\/Softball, Cricket, Lacrosse and Squash. Will they be integrated into the Lima 2027 Sports Program?<\/strong>
\nWe do not have a definition on how we will integrate them. To be honest, I think they need to be studied very well. There are sports that have been included in Los Angeles that do not have a deep development in our region. Some of them do not even have a Pan American Confederation. And we, although we follow the IOC guidelines, we also have our own rules. And to be part of the Pan American Games, there must be presence and sports development in more than 50% of the countries in our region. But all this is on the table of the Executive Committee as part of the decisions to be made in the short term.<\/p>\n

How do you foresee the Lima 2027 Pan American Games?<\/strong>
\nAs a great sporting event, the most important in the world, after the Olympic Games. Five years ago it was a great event and we are sure that for 2027 it will be even better. Lima and Peru have everything necessary to develop a great Games, they have done a tremendous job with Legado. They have taken advantage of their wonderful sports facilities by organizing new events such as the World and Pan American Games, and they have developed a lot in sports. I am sure it will be a great sports party, as the continent deserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tremendously successful 2024 comes to an end for Pan American sport. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28704,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news_sports":[133],"class_list":["post-28705","news-sport","type-news-sport","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_sports-panam-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A tremendously successful 2024 comes to an end for Pan American sport. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Panam Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/\",\"name\":\"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-27T17:03:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/news-sport\\\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Panam Sports\",\"description\":\"Home\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.panamsports.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports","og_description":"A tremendously successful 2024 comes to an end for Pan American sport. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/","og_site_name":"Panam Sports","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/","url":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/","name":"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE - Panam Sports","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-27T17:03:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_9278-scaled-e1735318975174.jpg","width":960,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/news-sport\/in-depth-with-president-neven-ilic-time-to-take-stock-and-make-projections-for-the-new-olympic-cycle\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IN DEPTH WITH PRESIDENT NEVEN ILIC: TIME TO TAKE STOCK AND MAKE PROJECTIONS FOR THE NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/","name":"Panam Sports","description":"Home","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-sport\/28705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-sport"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-sport"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_sports","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panamsports.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_sports?post=28705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}