Olympic Committee“s Rogge Receives Comenius University Gold Medal.

On Saturday, President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge was awarded the Grand Gold Medal of the Comenius University in Bratislava. After Juan Antonio Samaranch, he is the second representative of the Olympic movement to receive the prestigious award of the Comenius University.

SITA, bb | 25.01.2003 21:13:41

Mr. Rogge told the press that he received the medal in the name of the whole Olympic movement and he credited activities of the university in this field. He hopes that the graduates of the oldest and biggest Slovak university will significantly contribute to the development of sport movement worldwide.

However, Mr. Rogge is concerned that the sport and physical training is being reduced and slowly pushed out from the teaching schedule and list of classes at schools and universities all around the world. He explained that the Olympic movement is of educational nature and the Olympic spirit calls for mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Slovak Education Minister Martin Fronc and Chairman of the Slovak Olympic Committee Frantisek Chmelar also attended the ceremony.