New ASPC president announcement highlights the
Forum on Elite Sport in Helsinki
By Gary Davies
Harry Bahr, Managing Director of the Olympic Training Centre Berlin, was named the new President of the Association of Sport Performance Centres( ASPC) in early October at the International Forum on Elite Sport in Helsinki, Finland.
Nearly 400 people attended the three-day conference and General Assembly which took place at Urhea Helsinki Olympic Training Centre and the Original Sokos Hotel Tripla, the host hotel for the forum. Bahr took over the President’ s chair from Tapio Korjus, Director of the Kuortane Sports Institute, who served for the last three years.
Attendees were treated to a wide variety of seminars and presentations, combined with opportunities to enjoy traditional Finnish cuisine from on-site restaurant Bole and attend a welcome event hosted at city hall.
Former gymnast and now Chief Operating Officer of Wolt, Marianne Vikkula, kicked things off on Day One with an engaging talk on how the lessons she learned in high performance sport carried over to role in the boardroom. Vikkula is now second-incommand at Wolt, a Finnish food delivery company, with 7,000 employees in 25 countries, that was recently acquired by DoorDash in a deal worth US $ 8.1 billion.
There were five themes covered over the three days: Leadership Makes a Difference; Sustainability in High Performance Centres; Athlete-Centred Excellence; High-Performance Sport and Dual Career; and Research and Technology in Coaching. While most of the content was obviously skewed toward the experiences of sport science professionals in Finland, speakers were also featured from France, Canada, Australia, Sweden and Japan, highlighting the true international flavour that’ s experiences at all ASPC Forums on Elite Sport.
All of the content was excellent, but a few presentations stood out above the rest:“ Win Well – Achieving Sustainable Performances in a United System” by Bill Tait, Senior Executive, Strategy and Success with the Australian Institute of Sport;“ Transgender Sports from the Perspective of Women’ s Sports,” by Tommy Lundberg, Assistant Senior Lecturer in the Division of Clinical Physiology at Karolinska Institutet; and“ Elevating People and Performances, The CSIO’ s Strategic Approach to International Podium Success,” by James Brough, Director of Performance Pathways at the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario.
Attendees left the forum with the knowledge that they would be gathering again in two years’ time in Belgrade, Serbia in 2027. The Serbian contingent will have big shoes to fill, after the success of the Helsinki Forum, led by organizing committee chair Simo Tarvonen.