Dr. Tünde Szabó began her speech on the evergreen topic, taking us back to ancient times, by saying that men had the opportunity to pursue sports and compete even back then, while women had their first chance to compete at the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris. Since then, we have achieved almost total equality, there are only two sports in which women cannot compete: bobsleigh and rugby. The role of women is constantly increasing and there are more and more chances for them to succeed and realize themselves. Szabó said that we can see improvements not only for athletes but for leaders as well, for which there is no better example than herself, having held this high-ranking position in Hungary for four years now. “Sport is a rather swiftly and dynamically growing sector and we need the feminine values and perspectives”, said the Secretary of State in closing her speech.

Krisztián Kulcsár began by talking about the importance of the co-organizer, the Association of Hungarian Coaches which turned 25 years old last year. “It is as if they were our brothers, as they organize many conferences on agendas we also share, and this training is a fine example of that”, claimed Kulcsár.

The President of HOC also mentioned that the International Olympic Committee’s principles are also important to the Hungarian Olympic Committee: the safety of athletes, the fight against doping, the Olympic values, the protection of symbols and gender equality, among other things. “In these areas the IOC submits serious suggestions to the National Olympic Committees and international sports associations, and the IOC strictly supervises implementation as well.”

Kulcsár also mentioned that the HOC gives major roles to its committees, for example to the Women in Sport Committee. “We have Board of Directors members responsible for liaison working closely with these committees, I oversee this task for the women’s committee for example. A concrete goal for the committee is to strengthen the presence of women in coaching and sport leadership, not only in the Hungarian Olympic Committee but in member committees under our aegis.”

Krisztián Kulcsár mentioned the recently elected president of the Dutch Olympic Committee as a fresh example, adding that their Board of Directors has five female and two male members. Kulcsár also said that in this regard there are two exemplary Olympic sports with female leaders at the helm of their respective international sports association, namely triathlon and curling. “We have great domestic examples as well: the leader of the Hungarian sports scene, Secretary of State for Sport, Tünde Szabó and there are two women presenting at this conference whose work is quite relevant even at an international level: World Rowing Federation board member Éva Szántó and Ildikó Kolozsi, a prominent figure in Hungarian media.”

Éva Szántó, World Rowing Federation (FISA) Executive Committee member and Organising Committee President, similarly to dr. Tünde Szabó, began with a short historical retrospection, articulating the fact that even in the history of this sport, dubbed as elitist, women had the chance to compete significantly later.

In her presentation she provided us with a glimpse into the wonderful initiatives of FISA, for example the gender-neutral rowing guide book or a “learn to row” brochure, aimed at addressing women and familiarizing rowing.

The previous Secretary-General of the Hungarian Sports Association (Nemzeti Sportszövetség) claimed that based on the available data it is clear that the number of female athletes in rowing is increasing and within the international association the proportion of genders among its members is close to equal. “The World Rowing Federation is a very inclusive sports organization and there are clear guidelines within the association on this issue. Besides, we also aspire to meet the expectations of the International Olympic Committee”, said Éva Szántó.

“Those who know many languages live as many lives as the languages they know. But I wonder if we learned the language of humans?”, began her speech Ildikó Kolozsi, HOC Nívó prize winner for her quality journalism. She emphasized that she is an advocate for gender equality, however she is also convinced that everyone should work for reaching their goals, be it men or women. Her father played a defining role in forming her views. His “Persian rug metaphor”, that is, if we aim for success, we should take action, is something she passes down on to her students up until this day.

“Women should not get positions because they are pretty or to increase the role of women or the number of women in the editorial staff, but because they are smart. If they get a position while being incompetent, our value will decrease. (…) I believe that many situations portraying one or the other gender in an unfavourable light can be avoided with suitable behaviour and proper communication”, said the media professional and organizer of press centres for international sport events and global competitions to olimpia.hu, the official website of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.

Obstetrics and gynaecology specialist Dr. Dávid Szécsi called attention to the special health benefits of women pursuing professional sport. Besides the advantages, like boosting confidence or reducing anxiety, it is important to be familiar with the downside as well. Over-practicing and feeling overwhelmed can lead to malnutrition, stress or the endocrine system might cease to function. The first step to recovery is the realization that there is a problem. People surrounding athletes, especially coaches, play an essential role in this process as they pay close attention to the physical and mental development of athletes.

Sociologist Ilona Bodnár held a presentation on violence and sexual abuse in sports. “Surveys conducted among adult athletes show that 30% of female athletes and 20% of male athletes were harassed in some way during their career. Therefore, I want to emphasize that we are not dealing with a women-only issue. Indeed, women are susceptible to being harassed more in certain sports and situations, but they are not the only ones. (…) We are dealing with a wide spectrum of abuse, harassment and violence when it comes to sports”, said the member of Eötvös Lóránd University, Faculty of Primary and Pre-School Education.

There are special risk factors in sport, for example an autocratic leadership style, exclusivity or unavoidable physical contact. It is important to establish an organizational culture where there is a policy of zero tolerance against being disrespectful or violent, through setting an example. As for athletes, it is indispensable to teach them at an early age to take possession of their bodies, to be assertive and to rely on their intuition in certain cases.

The conference ended with a presentation with plenty of personal experiences from Prof. Dr. h.c. Lajos Mocsai. The former head coach of the Hungarian national handball team shared his accounts on how to become a successful and established male coach among women. “Every field has its error percentage, but sport professionals are trustworthy and fair. Harassment and abuse can be measured in a percentage under the thousandths. It is important to look at things proportionally, although we cannot turn a blind eye to the incidents and it is necessary to find solutions to the problems by creating appropriate preventative methods”, added the Rector of the University of Physical Education to the presentation of sociologist Ilona Bodnár.

Concerning his own field of expertise, he emphasized that there are differences stemming from gender and sport types and sometimes it is necessary to handle the two genders differently from a pedagogical standpoint, but with knowing the differences, by applying the suitable psychological tools and by treating players as partners, the same success can be achieved with women as with men.

Next to coaches and sport leaders, Association of Hungarian Coaches President Zoltán Molnár, HOC Secretary-General Bálint Vékássy, furthermore HOC Women in Sport Committee president Ildikó Kelemen and several members of the board also attended the conference.

(HOC)