Sport is a community responsibility in Belgium.
Alongside the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, the Flemish Community and the German-speaking Community, the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC) also plays a role as coordinator and representative of the Olympic movement in our country.
The four of them together form the 'Partners in elite sport'.
In order to maximise the results of our athletes, excellent collaboration between the various stakeholders in elite sport is essential.
The sports administrations Adeps, Ostbelgien and Sport Vlaanderen will directly implement the policies defined by the sports ministers. The BOIC carries out its mission in close collaboration with the communities and their sports administrations. This collaboration takes place at several levels:
- The Olympic Platform, which regularly brings together the sports ministers of the three communities and the President of the BOIC.
- The ABCD Commission, which brings together the executive management of the various sports administrations and the BOIC.
- The ABCD Technical Commission, which brings together the technical departments of the various sports administrations and the BOIC.
NB: examples of collaboration between elite sport stakeholders:
- Be Gold, a programme designed to promote specific projects by detecting, nurturing and supporting young sporting talent with a long-term view of participating in the Olympic Games.
- The fight against doping
- The fight against the manipulation of sporting competitions
The other stakeholders in elite sport
It goes without saying that the actors involved in elite sport are not limited to the four parties -mentioned above.
Sports federations - and the sports clubs they umbrella - play a crucial role in the development of their sports.
Some of them are 'multi-sports' federations (disabled sport/G sport, school sport etc.). Alongside the leagues and federations, 'sports interfederations' such as the Association Interfédérale du Sport Francophone (AISF) and its Dutch-language counterpart, the Vlaamse Sportfederatie (VSF), also play an important coordinating role.
The Department of Defence also provides considerable assistance to the world of sport by enabling a number of elite athletes to exercise their talent in good conditions.
Other entities - for whom elite sport is often not a priority - such as the private sector but also the municipalities, provinces, regions and the federal state also support elite sport through other channels.
Finally, there are the media, the sounding board of sports promotion and of the athletes' passion!
- The elite sport partners are :
- Adeps
- Sport Vlaanderen
- Ostbelgien
- BOIC
- To compete with other countries, the 'Partners in elite sport' must continue to rationalise and optimise their investments in this area.
- With this in mind, the sports ministers and the President of the BOIC signed a cooperation agreement in November 2011.
- It is the sports federations that put sports policy into practice and implement it. And many other actors in elite sport play an essential role in its development.