Oopppsss!!! First things FIRST: ABOUT ME...?
Wow, where does one start? Philani is a life-loving person in the true sense of the word! He enjoyes travelling and making friends, one of the most easiet things he does, with the blink of the eye!
He loves people and nature - espercially the prescious gases - to drew a healthy breath from! On a more seriose note: I was born in Mdantsane, the second biggest subarn in South Africa (classified as a township during apartheid, in the Eastern Cape Province. I studied there & Qobo-qobo, my home village, went on to try my luck @the University of Cape Town, hoping to study A Combined Diploma and BA Performign Arts and Speech & Drama but... long story...ended up at the University of Fort Hare, my Alma Mata: where Rholihlahla Nelson Mandela; Oliver Reginarld Thambo aka Cde. O.R., and the majority of the African leaders studied -at Fort Hare University, located in a small Educational town of Alice, eDikeni, my 2nd home!
I spent almost 10yrs of my life there & walkout with an MA Degree in Human Movement Studies, with Sports Science, Sports Sociology; Olympic Studies; Education & Physical Education; Education & and Psychology, were part of my studies and life as you now know it, now!
… Route to the IOC Congress - where did it all begin and how this unfold…?
by Philani Sturu Nongogo on 26th April 2010
by Philani Sturu Nongogo on 26th April 2010
This was indeed a long route, as my profile picture (the road you see there is a route between the IOA compound and the ancient town of Olympia, actually this picture was taken just adjacent to the Ancient Olympic Stadium; the folks i am with are my fellow IOAPA members; there is a picture of us as well, in the ancient Olympic Stadium; then the Congress pictures that you all know...) attempts to depict this experience. I was told, “tell me, I will forget, show me, I’ll remember …involve me I’ll learn… ” (so goes one popular Chinese Proverb). I chose to load my profile with critical pictures to outline this long journey...
One will learn and notice that there are various forces, indirect and direct, that together culminated to this watershed journey to the Scandinavian land! The former, naturally was a crucial springboard to greater things, including the Congress, thus, I will start with it.
My participation in the XIII 2009 Olympic Congress was the culmination of my long-standing interest in the Olympic Movement. This long journey formally (because issues of sports boycott and isolation were an everyday discourse in my country, given our unique aparetheid experience, thus, this compelled all of us young and old, male or female, etc., to live, experience and feel this wrath) started in 1995 in my Human Movement Studies class (sport sociology and sport history sections), during my Bachelor’s (of Pedagogics) studies at the University of Fort Hare. Come on guys, tell me, who on earth can’t find fascination and dare to forget the “ever powerful Greek Gods”; the “60 Meter standing-jump”; the early history of “Sports and Gender” relations (or should I say sexism) in the context of the Olympic Games (and or Pen-Hellenic Games), and all? I have always loved Greek History especially the grey areas, depicting the “fine-line” between Greek History and Greek Mythology! I know these issues are debatable, yet to me they meant a whole lot of fascination and of course everlasting inspiration to want to know more, at the time and continued beyond. However, the 2007-08 academic year, proved to be the highlight.
This season I decided to start reading rigorously towards a doctoral degree, which I eventually enrolled for its preparatory programme in the beginning of 2008. This is the year I was recommended to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), following a meticulous selection process, to represent the country at a month-long 16th International Olympic Academy Postgraduate Seminar in Olympia, Greece.
At the end of this month-long stay in the Ancient Olympia, we were invited and encouraged to join the 21 year-old International Olympic Academy Participants Association (IOAPA), a structure for all the privileged youth from all over the world, that participated in both the Young Participants Sessions and the Post-Graduate Seminars of the IOA, and that is aimed advances the Olympic ideals and youth through research and public engagement, the organization that I am still a committed member of up until this moment.
The above experiences inspired me to enroll for and obtain the Postgraduate Diploma in Olympic Studies through the IOA and the Postgraduate Certificate in Olympic Studies through the Loughborough University, UK. These were done concurrently with my doctoral studies. In the latter, I am discussing the relationship and the role of South Africa and the Olympic Movement in the context of sport boycotts and social change in the pre- and post-apartheid periods. It was during my reading sessions that I got to know of the IOC’s Virtual Olympic Congress.
During this period, I was religiously ever into the IOC Website, as opposed to my earlier occasional visits, often prompted by big events like Olympic games themselves and the reports of prominent decisions like the announcement of the host countries, decisions around which sporting codes to be included in the Olympic Program and such; and doping scandals etc,. I was particularly interested in and reading about the IOC Presidents and their legacies, and thus, the current President, the Honorable Jacques Rogge was my focus as well, in relation to contemporary issues such as how the IOC was dealing with topical issues like Human Rights and Human Rights Abuses in countries that the IOC recognizes, Television rights; Advertising and Ambush Marketing; and most importantly, the Sports For All Programs and Youth!
So, at this stage it is clear that when the IOC announced the details of the Congress and the host city, Copenhagen, Denmark, following its session, it was never going to come as a surprise to me. However, what came as a REAL BIG, if not the BIGGEST SURPRISE was the IOC’s watershed announcement that the MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC would be invited to take part in the 2009 Copenhagen IOC Congress!!! The manner in which the former were to be chosen was equally fascinating!
Taking from the IOA 16th Post-Graduate Seminar, I have mentioned above, at this stage, I was busy refining the paper entitled: “South Africa and the Youth Olympic Games: Challenges and Strength in Delivering the IOC’s Mandate”, for the purpose of publishing it in a peer reviewed journal. At the time the IOC was busy with the logistics around the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games, an international multi-sport event that will be inaugurated in Singapore in 2010 for the summer season, on the IOC President, Jacques Rogge’s instigation.
This followed the approval on July 06, 2007 by the Executive Board at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City, to establish the youth version of the Olympic Games. With this, what came to be a great idea was readily available to me to work on. The fact that I was already working on this piece for publication purposes did not only compel me to take it to another level but to test the intensity and credibility of peer reviewed works and of course the IOC processes – and guess what??? My paper was published in mid - June 2009 and my submission - come July 2009, THE REST IS HISTORY! You all know what happened DURING THIS PERIOD in relation to all our submissions! I submitted one piece because it was so damn hectic for me to put in the second article! With ones modesty – I always kept me on the edge! I was never sure of winning, but if truth be told, I wanted this opportunity so badly, because I was aware of what it meant, not only to me but to my country and the General World Public, and its youth, in particular, my primary constituency.
So, that’s my story folks, and I am sure it will not be complete without the mention of several personalities that many of you have come to know closely: Anne, our mom and more exciting ... – Pablo (who, who doesn't know him???)! Thanks to you all for making our stay in Denmark such a pleasure.
