IOC President Thomas Bach welcomes WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari, Athlete Commission to Olympic House
The leader of the Olympic Movement had a conversation with President Fraccari, Monica Abbott, Timothy Atherton, Randolph Oduber, Giovanni Pantaleoni, Ayako Rokkaku and Maria Soto ahead of the Athletes Summit at the International Olympic Committee headquarters. Abbott and Pantaleoni signed the Olympians Wall.
As part of the celebration of the WBSC 10th Anniversary, the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach welcomed WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari and the WBSC Athlete Commission to the Olympic House, the headquarters of the IOC on Wednesday.
Athletes Commission members Monica Abbott, Timothy Atherton, Randolph Oduber, Ayako Rokkaku and Maria Soto as well as 2004 Olympian and WBSC staffer Giovanni Pantaleoni were panelists in the first ever WBSC Athletes Summit, which took place in the Paris 2024 room at the Olympic House after meeting President Bach.
"Welcome to the Olympic House, which is your house. You should feel home when being here at the Olympic House. " said President Bach. "I talked with President Fraccari and congratulated him for the 10th Anniversary of your Federation, and on the impressive work he has been doing on these 10 years to develop your sport into a really global sport, with great innovation and very good governance."
The Baseball, Softball and Baseball5 Athlete Representatives hosted the first WBSC Athlete Summit, an online webinar on the subject of post career planning. Bach praised the WBSC Athletes Commission for this initiative. "The IOC Athletes Commission meets online regularly as well, every two or three months, and this is working very well," he said.
During the visit to the Olympic House, Olympians Monica Abbott (Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020 Softball Olympian) and Giovanni Pantaleoni (Athens 2004 Baseball Olympian) signed the Olympians Wall and received their certificates as Olympians. Pantaleoni became the first baseball player to add his name to the Olympians Wall, while Abbott joined Soto and Taeko Utsugi as the softball players to do so.
