The official opening of the European Week of Sport was carried out on in Budapest, in cooperation of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

Hungarian capital hosted the opening ceremony of the European Week of Sport at the occasion of the LED run, taking place on September 23 at the National Athletics Centre, where a newly built community sporting facility opened its doors for the general public. 

The event was opened by Adam Schmidt, Hungarian State Secretary for Sport; Georg Hausler, Director of Culture, Creativity and Sport at the European Commission; and Gabor Balogh, President of the National School, University and Leisure Sport Federation, followed by the hundreds of recreational runners taking part in the symbolic race.

On September 24, the high-level Ministerial and International Conference on the Legacy of Major Sporting Events took place at Varkert Bazar in Budapest, gathering sport leaders, policy makers, and representatives from the European sport organisations and community. The event served as a platform for structured dialogue and collaboration aimed at advancing the mission and legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the modern era.

Participants were welcomed by Adam Schmidt, Hungarian State Secretary for Sport, following by the official opening of the conference by Georg Hausler, Director of Culture, Creativity and Sport at the European Commission.

On behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its Vice-President Juan Antonio Samaranch presented a keynote speech on sport and its effects on public health, stressing that sport should be considered as investment and not cost.

Other speakers of the morning programme included State Secretary for Sport Adam Schmidt, sharing the national decision of having sport as a strategic sector, infrastructure investments, changes of funding methods and dedicated programmes, Secretary General of the Hungarian Olympic Committee Laszlo Fabian sharing the Olympic Values Education Programme in Hungary; IOC Member Balazs Furjes sharing the Olympic Movement in Central Europe; Paris2024 Director of Impact and Legacy Marie Barsacq, presenting the Legacy of Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The afternoon programme continued by plenary speeches by the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Witold Banka, sharing the WADA major event anti-doping legacy (MEAL) programme; by the President of the European Paralympic Committee (EPC) Raymond Blondel, presenting the present and the future of the Paralympic Games; and President of the Hungarian Paralympic Committee Laszlo Szabo giving the insight in the breakthrough in the international paralympic movement – data, messages, legacy and vision.

The main panel discussion at the event was on athletes representation in international sport organizations. Moderated by IOC Honorary Member, former President of Hungary and Olympian Pal Schmitt, the participants of the panels were Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission; Dora Hegyi, WADA Athlete Council member and Athlete Commission member of the International Gymnastics Federation; Daniel Gyurta, Former member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission; and Luca Ekler, Paralympic, World and European Champion, Member of the Hungarian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Commission.

European University Sports Association (EUSA) is an official partner of the European Week of Sport and #BeActive campaign. EUSA was represented at the events in Budapest by its Projects and Policy Manager Andrej Pisl and Sports Coordinator Eszter Gulyas.

The European Week of Sport is celebrated across Europe. In Ljubljana, Slovenia - the home of the EUSA Office and EUSA Institute, the opening of the European Week of sport is also combined with the celebrations of the Slovenian Day of Sport on September 23. EUSA staff and volunteers were also attending the events in Ljubljana, after kicking off the celebrations with #LetsIDUS #BeActive team-building.

EUSA members and partners are invited to celebrate the European Week of Sport and also the International Day of University Sport with their activities and events all over Europe in the period of September and October. We will share an overview of the activities later this year, as reported by our members. As a point of interest - there is also a European Week of Winter Sport and #BeActiveWinter campaign coming up, as part of the EWWS project, co-funded by the European Union.

For more information about the European Week of Sport, please see https://sport.ec.europa.eu/european-week-of-sport. For more information about the European Week of Winter Sport, please see https://wintersportweek.com