Bubka and Bokel among stellar list of speakers at World Olympians Forum

IAAF vice-president and Olympic gold medallist Sergey Bubka will speak at the World Olympians Forum in Moscow ©Getty Images

International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president Sergey Bubka and current chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission Claudia Bokel are two of the headline names on the list of speakers for the upcoming World Olympians Forum in Moscow, it has been announced.

Bubka, who won Olympic pole vault gold at the 1988 Games in Seoul and Olympic fencing silver medallist Bokel will be joined by IOC members Frank Fredericks of Namibia, who won four Olympic sprinting silvers, and Guy Drut, 110 metres gold medallist at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, of France.

United States Olympic Committee chairman Scott Blackmun, Tokyo 2020 director of sport Koji Murofushi and Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Organising Committee, will also speak at the Forum.

A host of stellar athletes are scheduled to attend including five-times Olympic swimming champion Anastasia Davydova of Russia, compatriot Alexei Nemov, a four-times Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast and fellow Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, the current pole vault world record holder.

Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, who won double gold in the 1,500 metres and 5,000m at Athens 2004, is also due to speak at the Forum.

“I am honoured to join my esteemed colleagues in the Olympic Movement at the very first World Olympians Forum,” Ukrainian Bubka, who lost out to Britain’s Sebastian Coe for the IAAF Presidency, said.

"The Forum will provide a great opportunity to debate the key issues within the Olympic Movement and I’m also looking forward to the insightful discussions about how National Olympians Associations can be empowered to spread the core Olympic values throughout their communities.”

The event, which will be held from October 20 to 22, has been established by the World Olympians Association in partnership with the Russian Olympic Committee and will be attended by IOC President Thomas Bach.

IOC President Thomas Bach will join a host of IOC members and Olympic champions at the World Olympians Forum ©Getty Images

It has also been announced recently that fellow IOC member Prince Albert II of Monaco will open the Forum.

The aim of the forum is to celebrate Olympism and the achievements of Olympians around the world, with all 143 National Olympians Associations brought together.

The event itself will feature debates and discussions, as well as keynote speeches, networking sessions and working seminars.

“The athletes are at the centre of the Olympic Movement and it is vital that we support them on and off the field of play,” Bokel said.

“This has been reinforced through a number of Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement.

“The World Olympians Forum will provide an excellent platform to discuss this important subject and it will be a pleasure to discuss new ways in which we can support Olympians throughout their sporting careers and beyond.”