With 30 Days to go for the Olympic Day 2015, the ICMG is joining the Olympic Movement in celebrating this important day in the annual calendar of the Olympic Family. A Day to promote and reinforce sports values inspired by Olympic ideals such as Excellence, Fair Play and Respect. A Day dedicated to sports and the promotion of sports events.

Thus, we encourage the NOCs, members of our Institution, to share this initiative and celebrate with splendour the Olympic Day 2015 by organizing competitions and other sports activities in order to raise public awareness of the virtues of Sport. The ICMG will promote and support these activities to the best of its ability, on the basis of proposals from NOCs.

The Olympic Day is also considered as an opportunity to discover new disciplines and encourage people to practice them, fostering new vocations and discovering new talents.

However, this moment of conviviality and communion through sport can also make us think of the contribution of sport to social issues that affect humanity: poverty, environmental protection, deadly conflicts… and even closer to us, the dramatic situation in the Mediterranean Sea.

It is distressing to see our “Mare Nostrum”, the sea that unites the peoples of the Mediterranean basin, this cradle of civilization, this “lake of peace” be turned into a receptacle of untold suffering and human tragedy where numerous poor souls in search of a better life or fleeing war and other conflicts end up losing their lives. Athletes should join these poor souls in an attempt to promote more than ever the notions of understanding and brotherhood in order to offer to those wandering around some dignity and hope.

In a few months, the ICMG will celebrate the 1st Mediterranean Beach Games in Pescara, Italy, bringing together athletes from 24 Mediterranean countries in a spirit of friendship and conviviality. This shall be an opportunity for all participants to unanimously shout “NO” to those who have turned the Mediterranean Sea into a place of distress and recall the values and principles of the Olympic Movement so that the Games of Pescara can make a powerful call for peace and spread around a message of hope for the millions of distraught refugees.

With best wishes to you all for the celebrations in an Olympic Spirit

Amar Addadi, ICMG President