INTERVIEW
NGOs and academia. This year Professor Muhammad Yunus, together
with UEFA Champions League winner, four-time Premier League
Champion and Champion for Peace Didier Drogba, will be speakers
for the Peace and Sport 10-Year Gala on December the 7th. Also on
this occasion, eleven awards will be granted to exceptional initiatives
promoting peace through sport as part of the evening of the Peace and
Sport International Forum Gala.
Joёl Bouzou in this exclusive interview for HelloMonaco shared his
philosophy about how sport can bring peace to the world, who will
be presented with Peace and Sport Awards this year and what other
projects the organisation is going to lead in next year.
HelloMonaco: Tell us how the idea of creating the Peace and Sport
organization was born and how did you come to it?
Joёl Bouzou: Peace and Sport is the result of a personal journey in
which I realised that sport is a powerful tool for building peace and
positive social change. Along the years, I have undertaken the work of
promoting peace through sport to share a long-standing conviction
of mine, that sport is a springboard to individual well-being, social
cohesion and sustainable peace. This certainty was born of my own
experience and has been confirmed over the years, initially during my
time as a sportsperson and teacher, and later because of responsibilities
arising out of my professional career.
HM: What did you do before Peace and Sport?
JB: My career as a sportsperson gave me the opportunity to travel in
order to participate in international competitions. I have participated
in four Olympic Games (Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988
and Barcelona 1992) winning a bronze medal during the 1984 Games.
I won the World Championship title in Modern Pentathlon in 1987. This
experience helped to forge and assimilate the Olympic values and to
become aware of the powerful role athletes can play as role models for
society. I ended my sporting career in 1992. Working on different projects
related to sport and promoting it constantly through different channels,
I gradually developed the ambition of creating a project based on sport
that would contribute to the process of keeping peace and support
development. One of the examples was the creation of the association
«Rassemblement par le Sport» («Together through Sport»), which during
10 years of existence, helped to bring 20,000 young people off the streets
on a long-term basis by involving them in a sporting activity.
H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and Joёl Bouzou
We have held, annually, our
#WhiteCard campaign, which this
year reached more than 43 million
people worldwide. Through the use
of a universal #WhiteCard we have
been able to turn millions of people
into ambassadors for peace.
HM: What social problems do you consider the most important for
Peace and Sport?
JB: There is a pressing need to address the major difficulties faced
by our world today, from escalating local conflict, refugee issues and
the global migration crisis to the rise of extremism and community
withdrawal. It is important to raise awareness about the new capaci-
ties of the global sport and peace community to make sport a tool to
serve society and promote cohesion, throughout the wo