Organisers of the Baku 2015 European Games updated leaders of Europe’s 49 national Olympic Committees at the weekend, met by an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the standard of their preparations.

“I am deeply impressed to see the development here in regard to sport,” said IOC president Thomas Bach, who was also attending the EOC General Assembly in Baku.

“What I have seen and heard about the preparations for the Baku 2015 European Games makes me very confident they will be an outstanding success for European sport and also an outstanding success for Azerbaijan.”

The optimism surrounding Baku 2015 will come as a great relief to the Olympic Movement, coming at a time when the next Olympic Games, Rio 2016, is under intense scrutiny over its delayed preparations and when European cities have been turning away from bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The NOC presidents and secretary generals were taken on a tour of the key venues including the National Stadium, the National Gymnastics Arena and the Baku Aquatics Centre. 

“I am very impressed at what they have achieved in Baku and the new sports infrastructure is excellent,” said Uğur Erdener, president of the Turkish Olympic Committee.

“The conditions will be perfect for elite performances, I am sure: great venues, great accommodation and transport, and great organisation,” said French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia. 

“The stadia here are stunning and the facilities for athletes in the Village and around the city are of the highest level,” said Victor Sanchez, Spanish Olympic Committee secretary general.

More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will compete in 20 sports at Baku 2015. The programme includes 16 Olympic sports, 11 of which will offer qualification opportunities for Rio 2016.

“After seeing the venues and meeting the organisers this week, I am more convinced than ever that Baku 2015 will be an important stage on our road to Rio 2016,” said Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov.

Hosted right on the border of Europe and Asia, the European Games is set to be the biggest multi-sport event on the European calendar in 2015 and beyond. 

“I think Baku 2015 will be one of the surprise events of next year... They will be a breath of fresh air for European sport, said Vlade Divac, president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia. 

“The Organising Committee of Baku 2015 has considered every part of their hosting concept from an athlete and NOC perspective and that is really reassuring for me and my team.”

With the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games all set to take place outside Europe, the prospect of a regular multi-sport event in Europe will be reassuring to European Olympic leaders. “I believe in the future of the European Games,” said Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov.

The host city of the 2019 European Games is being determined through a process of dialogue between the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and a number of potential host cities and will be announced at an EOC Assembly in the Turkish resort of Belek in May 2015.

VITAL Communications has been chosen to assist with expanding the Convention’s reach beginning in 2015 with the World Sport & Business Summit in Sochi, Russia.

The SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit is the world’s premier annual event at the service of sport, focused on driving positive change internationally, and dedicated to engaging rights holders, organising committees, cities, press and media, businesses and other organisations in the development of sport.

Nis Hatt, Managing Director, SportAccord Convention said, “Mr. Vitale, an attorney, has more than 35 years’ experience in the television industry, including Executive positions at NBC Television Network and ABC Sports. By collaborating with one of the pioneers of Sportel, we truly strengthen the presence of media providers available to delegates.”

In making the announcement, William Vitale, President of VITAL Communications commented, “I am very excited to be supporting the growth plans of SportAccord Convention. We have a wonderful opportunity to broaden participation and help to make the annual World Sport & Business Summit a must attend event for all sectors of the international sports community.”

Nis Hatt, Managing Director, SportAccord Convention concluded by saying, “As the Convention grows, it is important to encourage involvement and engage with organisations across all industry sectors and having VITAL Communications on-board will ensure a broad representation of media and increased service quality for our delegates.”

SportAccord Convention 2015 will take place 19-24 April 2015 in Sochi, Russia and will be held at the Sochi Expocentre. For more Convention information and to register visit www.sportaccordconvention.com.

Organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England have revealed that 20,000 applications have been received for 6,000 volunteer positions for the rugby union tournament.

With the application deadline having closed, organisers will sift through the contenders by holding a series of selection events between now and December.

About 4,500 volunteers will be recruited from English and Welsh rugby clubs with the remaining 1,500 places to be given to members of the public.

The host cities for the tournament are now in the process of staging the try-outs, with the successful applicants to join the volunteer team, which will be known as ‘the pack’.

The host cities are Birmingham (Villa Park), Brighton (Brighton Community Stadium), Cardiff (Millennium Stadium), Exeter (Sandy Park), Gloucester (Kingsholm),  Leeds (Elland Road), Leicester (Leicester City Stadium), London (Twickenham, Wembley Stadium and Olympic Stadium), Manchester (Manchester City Stadium), Milton Keynes (StadiumMK) and Newcastle (St James’ Park).

“The pack will be made up of 6,000 volunteers so we had approximately 20,000 applications and we are going to interview 10,000 of those. That will break down into 6,000 that will make up the volunteers,” try-out team manager Mary Cahill said.

The volunteers will perform various roles during the six-week tournament, including working in transport and accreditation services.

The UK public’s appetite for major sporting events has been whetted by the recent 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, England.

More than 50,000 people applied for 15,000 volunteer positions for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, while more than 240,000 applications were received for the 70,000-strong volunteer programme at London 2012.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup will run from September 18 to October 31.

The 2019 edition of the event will take place in Japan, with the host of the 2013 Rugby World Cup yet to be decided.

After bidding for the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics, Toronto turned to the 2015 Pan American Games to bring an international mega event to the city. The Ontarian city was picked by the Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO) over rival cities Lima and Bogota to host the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games.

The organising committee of Toronto 2015 has heralded these Games as being particularly environmentally friendly as well as being twice the size of the Winter Olympics held in Vancouver in 2010. The organising committee is planning a spend of US$2.2bn on the event – the most ever spent on a Pan American Games.

A Games this big, held in Canada’s most populous city, needs a huge yet reliable level of infrastructure. US$641 million has been set aside for building and renovating infrastructure in the city. That’s where Allen Vansen, the executive vice-president of operations, sport and venue management, comes in.

Vansen was the former vice-president of Triathlon Canada as well as being the vice-president of Workforce Operations and Integration at the Vancouver 2010 Games before coming to work on the Toronto 2015 organising committee.

His experiences in Vancouver were vital in providing a benchmark for the level of service required at the Pan-American Games, he says. “Working on the Pan-American Games has given us a license to be as innovative as we can be and I think that’s one of the things we’ve really taken to heart as we’ve looked at London and some elements of Sochi in terms of things we can do a little bit differently.”

The organising committee selected two vastly experienced organisations as technology partners in order to achieve this innovation. IT services corporation Atos and networking equipment giant Cisco were chosen as two of the ‘Premier Partners’ of the Games. Atos are the official Games systems integration partner and official provider of timing, scoring and results – crucial Games infrastructure, according to Vansen.

“When you get down to it, nothing’s more important in a Games than the sport and competition and of course timing, scoring and the publishing of those results in critically important. We know with Atos we have a fantastic provider who has tons of Games experience to bring to the table to ensure we deliver those core critical systems.”

Meanwhile, Cisco will be providing the event with wireless network security, unified computing, cloud services, customised Cisco operated stadium Wi-Fi and stadium vision solutions. “With Cisco one of the things we’re pretty excited about is the video and telepresence opportunities that happen for our media at our main press centre,” says Vansen.

But with innovations in technology, communications and networking comes heightened security risks.

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Representatives from National Olympic Committees across Europe and other overseas dignitaries converged on the capital of Azerbaijan to celebrate the start of a yearlong countdown to the Baku 2015 European Games.

More than 25,000 spectators watched the fireworks and laser light show on Wednesday night, indicating strong public support and enthusiasm for the inaugural European Games.

 “The whole of Azerbaijan is passionate about hosting the European Games – you could feel the excitement all over Baku for our 1 Year To Go celebrations,” said Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sports and Chief Executive of Baku 2015. 

“The European Games will have a long term positive impact on our country, and particularly on the lives of our young people. We look forward to welcoming people from across Europe to Baku to enjoy world class sport in an amazing city.”

Baku was awarded the Games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012. The Baku European Games Operations Committee (BEGOC) will organise and run the Games in co-operation with the EOC.

 “The scale and pace of development here in Baku have been remarkable,” said Patrick Hickey, president of the EOC. “But we do not have a moment to lose: two years of excellent work have given us the opportunity to stage a truly outstanding inaugural European Games, and we must make the most of that opportunity. 

“Baku 2015 is already in the home straight, and under the leadership of Minister Rahimov I am positive BEGOC will deliver an innovative, sustainable, impactful and athlete-centred European Games.”

Baku 2015 will be the first ever European Games, an exciting and innovative new multi-sport event for the continent that will take place from 12 June until 28 June 2015. There will be a total of 19 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and three non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes are expected to represent their nations over the 17 days of competition.

Nine of the sports will offer Olympic qualification for the Rio 2016 Games: archery, athletics, beach volleyball, cycling, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and triathlon.