With Paris 2024 Olympic athlete and team qualification on the line, IOC President Thomas Bach has been in the Qatari capital for the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 as a delegation of global sports leaders took in watching a captivating Mixed 10m Synchronized Diving final at the Hamad Aquatics Centre.
Accompanying the IOC President were World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki, Doha 2024 General Director Khaleel Al Jabir, and other senior members of World Aquatics, Doha 2024 and IOC Administration.
The sports leaders were in the stands as the pairing of Jianjie Huang and Jiaqi Zhang from the People’s Republic of China claimed gold with a dominant performance.
The IOC President pointed out the record number of athletes and nations that are competing at the 21st edition of the World Aquatics Championships.
“We appreciate this very much as it shows the global appeal of swimming and the global appeal of the Olympic Games because they are all thriving (striving) for qualification for Paris so I can only congratulate World Aquatics very much on this great result and this really global participation.”
Carrying on about the theme of universality and equality evident in aquatic sports, the IOC President noted that advances in artistic swimming like men being able to compete at the Olympic Games for the first time this July in Paris.
“We are looking for gender parity and this is what we’re going to achieve in Paris. These mixed events are very important because they encourage women in countries whose culture is not necessarily in favour of women’s sports to practice sport and to be involved and we can see very good results of these initiatives and in Paris we will be there with gender parity across all sports.”
The IOC President also hailed Doha are a major event host, saying: “The facilities are really wonderful for all the divers and the swimmers and water polo players and we have seen a great competition and the Qatari hospitality is famous all over the world.”