Bringing sport to young athletes and local communities
The Sport for Hope Programme is a joint initiative between the IOC, its Olympic Movement stakeholders and the local governments. In establishing Sport for Hope Centres in developing countries, the programme aims to provide young people and local communities with positive sports development opportunities, offer state-of-the-art training facilities to the National Federations and the athletes of the country, and spread the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. In addition, the Sport for Hope Centres also serve as platforms for social development and innovative cooperation to contribute to a better and more peaceful world through sport.
The first multi-sport centre of this kind opened in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2010. It welcomes an average of 10,000 youngsters, which practice sport on a regular basis and participate in cultural, educational and social development programmes at the Centre. In 2014, at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games (YOG), one of these young Zambian athletes struck gold winning the 100m sprint. A second Sport for Hope Centre was inaugurated in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in July 2014.
