According to Gerd Kanter, the aim of the meeting is to strategize and agree on the goals for the new commission. "This is the first working meeting of the new commission members and we are planning to map the most important current topics for athletes, analyse the recommendations of the previous commission members and then agree on the most relevant directions and goals we want to achieve," Kanter said.
The discus throw Olympic winner mentioned that one of the most important goals of the commission is going to be making the voice of athletes heard across Europe. "Not all National Olympic Committees in Europe have an athletes commission. The first step should be promoting establishing an athletes commission in all countries. Then we want to build a cooperation network with the athletes' commissions - for gathering ideas, implementing them, creating discussions, sharing best practices. It is important that the EOC Athletes Commission does not only stand for the 12 elected members but represents all athletes in Europe and that athletes would be actively involved sports management and decision-making processes," Kanter marked.
The EOC is the international umbrella organization, which unites 50 national Olympic committees in Europe. The EOC new Athletes Commission was elected in Monaco in October 2017. Gerd Kanter - Olympic winner, Chair of Estonian Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission and Member of Executive Board - was elected as Chair.
The meeting in Tallinn will be attended by EOC Athletes Commission members Gerd Kanter, David Harte, Eldar Ronning, Jana Daubnerova, Luiza Zlotkowska, Mikko Ronkainen, Nevriye Yilmaz and Joao Pedro Lopes da Silva, as well as International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission Vice-Chair Danka Bartekova.