The Olympic Committee of Catalonia (

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: ''Comitè Olímpic de Catalunya'', abbreviated COC) is a currently unrecognized

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

who tried to organize the direct representation of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and other sporting events related to it. Nowadays, the COC continues to defend its official recognition by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC).

History

The first

Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental Sports governing body, sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an associ ...

of Catalonia was founded in 1913 in order to participate in the 1916 Olympic Games of Berlin, but only existed during a brief period. In 1922 it was founded the Sports Confederation of Catalonia, seen as heir to the now defunct Catalan Olympic Committee and was chaired by Joan Ventosa i Calvell. The Confederation did not use the word "Olympic" because of the reluctance of the IOC to recognize an entity outside of international institutions. In 1923, however, it received the Olympic Cup in recognition of its work in promoting sport. However, during the dictatorship of

Primo de Rivera Primo de Rivera is a Spanish family prominent in politics of the 19th and 20th centuries: *Fernando Primo de Rivera (1831–1921), Spanish politician and soldier *Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870–1930), nephew of Fernando, military officer and dictat ...

(1923-1930) the Confederation lost most of its functions. In 1987, shortly after the election of Barcelona as host city of the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, it was created the Association for the Olympic delegation of Catalonia, which established on 29 May 1989 the Olympic Committee of Catalonia. After decades frozen and forgotten, in October 2016, during the process of self-determination of Catalonia, its directive council met in order to approve new statutes of the organization, as the originals were still the ones of 1989, clearly obsoletes. The goals of this changes are: restore the activities of the COC, adapt it to legislative changes in international sport of recent decades and prepare it for eventual international recognition in case of independence of Catalonia. Gerard Esteva, president of the UFEC, was elected as new president of the committee.

References

Sport in Catalonia Sports organizations established in 1913 Sports organizations established in 1989 1913 establishments in Spain 1989 establishments in Spain Spain at the Olympics

1989 establishments in Catalonia {{Catalonia-stub

History

See also

References