Europeans with high marks get on their marks 

Fifteen young European men and thirteen young European women from the EU-25 plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are lining up to take part in the Olympic Champions of Education programme from 11 to 26 August. The programme is being run by ATHENS 2004 with the help of the Sports Unit / European Year of Education through Sports (EYES 2004). Athletes were selected not just on the basis of their sporting achievements ["being a champion in their home country"] but also on their academic record. To be eligible, they also had to be participating in an Olympic sport. Sweden and the Netherlands had no representatives.

'Olympic Champions of Education' is part of efforts by the European Year of Education through Sports to convey to Europeans the educational and social values of sport. By the end of the year 6.5m euros out of a total budget of 11.9m euros for EYES will have been earmarked for around 120 projects across Europe. Projects are classified as being on an EU-wide basis [involving a minimum of eight Member States] or a transnational, national, regional or local basis.

Given that the Euro 2004 football championships are well underway, one project of particular relevance right now is the 'Caravana do fair-play', an itinerant exhibition on fair play in sport, which is visiting schools and municipalities in Leiria.

During a press conference marking the mid-way point of EYES and the passing of the Olympic Torch through Brussels, Education and Culture Commissioner Viviane Reding described EYES as an "overwhelming success" with well over 1,500 applications for projects.

There will be some follow-up to the current European Year of Education through Sport at global level as a UN resolution has made 2005 the 'International Year of Sport and Physical Education'. The decision dates back to a UNESCO meeting - the World Round Table of Ministers and Senior Officers Responsible for Sport and Physical Education - in Paris in January 2003.