BOREC was Inaugurated on November 14, 2022 in auditorium Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry, of the Atomium in Brussels as an interdisciplinary centre which focuses on the promotion of research and education about the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games as well as on the provision of multidisciplinary support services to Olympic athletes, teams, coaches, and staff members. BOREC joins diff
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partners, including the BOIC and the faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, the department Topsport and Study (T&S), the research groups Sport Psychology and Mental Support (SPMB), Sport and Society (SASO), Human Physiology and Sports Physiotherapy (MFYS), Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS), as well as the Brussels University Consultation Center (BRUCC) at the VUB. BOREC’s experts, among others, provide education to (elite) sport managers, coaches, PE-teachers and physiotherapists, and are involved in international educational networks (e.g., Eutopia). They are also involved in world-level research for major organizations (e.g., Erasmus+ Sport, IOC, WADA, national Olympic Committees, national elite sport organizations) and provide consulting and support services to, among others, elite student-athletes, elite and Olympic athletes, teams, coaches and staff, managers/directors of national governing bodies, and university students and teaching staff. BOREC experts are thus active and present at international congresses on, among others, (sport) psychology, (sport) physiology, (sport) management, education, at international sport events (e.g., Olympic Games) and provide services for international (sport) organizations (e.g., IOC, national Olympic Committees).
Prof. Paul Wylleman opened and hosted BOREC’s official Inauguration together with by Prof. Jan Danckaert, rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Mr. Jean-Michel Saive OLY, President of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee, both of which underlined the significance of BOREC for both organisations by signing the official collaboration between the VUB and the BOIC through BOREC. This signing was followed by a video message by Mr. Christophe De Kepper, director general of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who extended his congratulations to the BOIC and the VUB for establishing BOREC.
The opening and signing was followed by an Academic session on the theme of ‘Excellence in education and sport: Challenges, crossovers and collaborations’. Presentations from national and international experts included Prof. Romain Meeusen, pro-vice rector of the VUB, on ‘Research based Education: The way forward’; Mr. Olav Spahl, director Elite sport at BOIC, on ‘Striving for Excellence’; Prof. Natalia Stambulova, Expert dual career at Halmstad University on ‘Dual Career Excellence: Challenges, Coping, and Support’; Mr. Maurits Hendriks, fellow or the VUB, board member at FC Ajax and former director Elite sport at TeamNL, on ‘Excellence in a split society: An ”equal outcome” society does not create winners’; and Mr. Loïck Luypaert OLY, elite hockey player, gold medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and former elite student-athlete at the VUB, on Chasing Gold for 10 years: Combining elite sports and studies’. Maître de céremonie was Mr. Jos Verschueren, director of PG Sport management at the VUB.
The Academic session was ended with a panel discussion with experts from the worlds of academia and elite sport. The panel consisted of Prof. Veerle De Bosscher, expert sport management and coordinator of the international network on research in high performance sport SPLISS (Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success), Prof. Bart Roelands Professor at the Human Physiology Research Group at the VUB, Prof. Em. Thierry Zintz of Sports, chair of the Olympique Henri de Baillet-Latour et Jacques Rogge en Management des Organisations Organisations; and Prof. Kristine De Martelaer, expert on Ethics in sport at the VUB. Chaired by Prof. Paul Wylleman the panel discussed several aspects that were presented during the Academic session. The Inaugurationion was closed with a reception.
Video coming soon.
